It's Hard To Say I Love You
by CrushingPride
Summary: Valentine's Day is a few days away yet everything seems to be in a disarray. TANDRE', BADE, and CABBIE.
1. Chapter 1

_So basically, I've gotten a good response overall for my previous Victorious one-shots, so I decided to write a Victorious story with more chapters. For now, it may be 6 chapters since I'm not exactly planning to drag out the storyline for long. Bear with me, it may take a while for the next chapter to come out- my imagination being as dull and slow as it is. But I promise you I will try to end this to the best of my ability. So for now, here's Ch.1. Not really much drama and la-di-di-da since I don't tend to think dramatically but it may come later on. Oh and REVIEW, or else I will assume no one's reading this and I'll just quit and leave you wondering for life. Mwahahaha!_

_ ~JBJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJ~_

_Disclaimer: Hate it but I own nothing, unfortunately._

_ ~ATATATATATATA~_

"It's my day! It's my day!" Cat Valentine gleefully announced as she shot around the corner over to the main corridor of Hollywood Arts with a happy jump in her step.

It was her day and she'd be tickled if she didn't tell anyone about it. Ha…Tickling. Just thinking about tickling made her feel as if she were tickled.

Cat giggled at the very thought of that and made her way over to the bright and halfway opened 'Make It Shine' locker that stood out of all the other surrounding lockers.

Tori Vega stood at said locker, retrieving her books while she chatted animatedly with her best friend, Andre Harris, who also frequently exchanging words with her with an occasional laugh.

Honestly, one of them needed to ask the other out before Cat decided enough was enough and made them knock heads.

Cat paused mid- dash, as she watched her two friends with a lovesick smile. She wished she could have someone like the way those two had each other. They always had one another's back, through thick and through thin- plus it was obvious to everyone but the two that they were both interested in the other romantically.

As usual, it was as if the two had only existed as they conversed, both of them having those natural, dumbstruck grins of theirs' spread across their faces.

The oblivious two's moment was over when Cat came zooming their way after repeating her earlier proclamation again. They turned to face her, but both with different expressions.

The mixed Latina gave the redhead a look of confusion while her dreadlocked best friend shook his head before giving the petite redhead a knowing smile.

"Your day?" Tori questioned with a narrowed eyebrow. She was half expecting answer far beyond her comprehension. Why did she even bother to ask? Unless you had a brain like Cat's there was no way of fully understanding the CAT philosophy.

"Her day." Andre confirmed in agreement with a single nod before smiling again to himself.

He has known the Italian redhead for so long that he was already used to her strange and unique quirks. Not to mention, he has also dealt with his grandmother and her antics for so long that well-he pretty much got used to all the other types of crazy that happened in his life. The petite girl was nothing but a small fly compared to his grandma. Cat and his grandma even hit it off pretty well, which was a plus since his grandma's time was well-occupied and she wouldn't be able to start complaining about someone with a flashlight coming through her window when it was merely the sun or the moon or that she heard a noise when it was nothing but the creaking of her own rocking chair. Truthfully, he appreciated Cat and her bubbly, easygoing nature. The only problem with her would have to be the times where she took comments the wrong way or went bananas on one small detail. Now that was pure hell. But he loved his friend nonetheless.

Tori shot Andre the same exact look she gave Cat a few seconds ago.

Sometimes she felt that she was always left out of something that either Andre, Cat and the rest of the group went through together whether it was just a mere joke or a personal thing or event that happened way before she got to Hollywood Arts. She understood that they didn't mean for it to be that way intentionally- with the exception of Jade West- and that it wasn't their fault but still, she felt like she was out in the dark at times.

Andre shrugged at the brunette with a defensive lift of his palms just as a slam erupted; making himself and Tori jump simultaneously.

"Valentine's Day, duh?" A sharp yet feminine voice from ahead of them interrupted. The original three looked over in that direction to notice the usually black- clad Goth, Jade West and her indie- hipster boyfriend, Beck Oliver, heading their way.

As the couple finally approached the three, Jade stood a bit away from Beck as she stood face to face with Tori. The corners of her lips turned upwards as she shot the 'Make It Shine' songstress her legendary 'matter-of-fact' smirk with her arms crossed over her chest.

She then swiftly uncrossed her arms and quickly slapped a palm to her head as if she had just forgotten something important.

"Oh yeah, I forgot your little pea of a brain is too slow to even process that, so sorry," she paused and showed off a fake pout before she rolled her eyes and continued on with a sarcastic droll, "So uh, you're welcome, Dic-ding-ding!"

Even the dumbest person on Earth could connect two and two together. But not Vega. That girl was so slow that it was getting rather boring to make fun of her lately.

Tori frowned.

Will there ever be a day in which Jade would just bug off and leave her in peace for a while? Sometimes she couldn't handle Jade's deep- cutting sarcasm and jokes. Funny enough, this was the mildest form of hurt that Jade would inflict in a lifetime.

"Hey! I'm not a dic-ding-ding!" Tori wailed defensively before closing her locker with a thud, "You're being mean, Jade! Again!"

Sometimes Jade got to her so much that it drove her insane. And that is where she wins. Jade strived in aggravating people like her. It would usually be better to ignore her on some occasions, but this time, Tori couldn't help herself.

Jade cringed before grabbing her coffee cup that Beck was currently holding and took a sip from it.

"Oh, grow a pair!" she snorted with a dismissive glance behind her shoulder. Tori could be so sensitive sometimes. It made her sick to her very core.

"Jade!" The Indian boy narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend with a chastising tone.

The brunette's eyes flashed in anger seeming to interpret his expression in a whole different light.

"What?!" she asked, with a edge in her tone as she crossed her arms and faced him.

"Stop being mean." Beck ordered before he crossed his arms just like hers and reflected her look back upon her.

Why was Jade always bothering someone? Can't she take a break every once in a while for Pete's sake?

"I'm not being mean! She's so freaking sensitive!" Jade complained in her defense, her eyes cutting daggers as she glared at her boyfriend. He's always taking Vega's side for no damned reason. She ought to straighten him out.

"That was pretty mean, Jadey." Cat fluttered her eyelashes as she frowned before smiling cutely. Her famous dimples popped on both sides of her cheeks. Aw, she just loved Jade… even when she was being mean. But Jadey was mean because Jadey needed to be showered with love and friendship.

"Oh what do you know?!" Jade spat out quickly, obviously not choosing her words carefully before she spoke. She tossed empty coffee cup behind her as her gaze stayed trained on Cat's rapidly changing one.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cat cried frantically causing the other three to look at one another before widening their eyes at Jade. Why was Jadey being so mean to her now?

Jade sighed after receiving the glares from her boyfriend and the two best friends, "Nothing. Nothing! It's just that Barbie here can't even take a joke!" she paused to nudge her head Tori's way before continuing on, "It was a joke! You know, like… ha-ha?"

Andre and Beck gave identical looks, both of their brows arched in disbelief.

"That was a joke?" Andre seemed to ask for both himself and Beck with a tone of shock.

"Whatever, Harris! You know what?! You people just don't know humor when you see it!"" Jade screeched, feeling uncomfortable that everyone was accusing her of being mean. It wasn't her fault!

It's just that whenever she saw Tori and heard her sorry- assed voice, she just couldn't help herself but be cruel. It was just her nature and it'd be a million years from now if she'd ever change. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared off into the distance behind her shoulder.

Everyone was quiet until Cat decided to start jumping up and down again with her sing- song chant.

"It's my day! It's my day!"

Andre smiled at this again while Tori seemed to resume her previous state of confusion.

"Yeah but its two days from now, Cat." Beck tried to gently explain to the jumpy redhead, in attempt to calm her down. Sometimes he was seriously worried about her. Cat was a longtime friend of his but sometimes he felt they were on two different planets. She tended to think very- unrealistically. And Beck was a realistic guy. It was hard at times to have a common mindset with the girl. Yet it was also hard to deal with whenever anyone stomped on her hopes with a dose of reality. He'd rather stay supportive.

Andre nodded, supporting Beck's comment.

Tori, however, was still confused about "Cat's day" yet being on "Valentine's Day". Isn't Valentine's Day for everyone to celebrate?

She looked back and forth from Andre and Beck hoping for a reasonable explanation.

"I get that Valentine's Day is almost here but what does that have to do with anything?" she asked innocently as she turned once more towards her locker to make sure it was locked, "It has nothing to do with anything, does it?"

When she turned back she was met with three stony glares. Jade's- she was used to, but Andre's and Beck's were rare to see. She looked Cat's way in hopes of seeing a more relaxed facial expression but Cat's doe- like eyes grew wider and wider as if she would cry at any given moment. It would seem that she took Tori's question the wrong way.

Tori widened her eyes and tilted her head slightly in recognition.

Oh… she got it now. Valentine. Cat Valentine. Valentine's Day… oh.

Cat gazed at her sadly while the other three watched the interaction cautiously as if they were watching a predator hunt its prey. Time seemed to stand still for those 15 seconds until Cat cracked a small smile, a dimple appearing on her cheek.

"Cause Valentine's Day was named after me! My brother said so!" she responded happily before hugging and hanging onto the arm of the younger Vega sister. She bounced joyfully again.

Hearing this, Tori paused with a fake, plastic smile. Cat seriously believed that? She knew Cat was strange in her own unique way but God, she wasn't that strange. She had better set the petite girl straight.

"Uh, Cat…" Tori started off awkwardly, "I don't think that-"

Tori was instantaneously interrupted by Jade, who had just pulled out her favorite scissors and started snipping in the air to get her attention. Tori then noticed the three who were currently behind Cat.

Jade shot the Latina a menacing stare. She better keep her flaps shut or else. She made snipping noises in the air again to send a second message.

The Goth tried to move closer in an attempt to scare Tori again but her boyfriend kept her glued to his side with an arm wrapped around her waist. He widened his eyes at Tori and made a slow slicing motion across his neck with his other hand. He couldn't deal with a crazed- out Cat roaming the halls. There would be no way to control that. Last time she had a blow out, his hair got messed up and he truthfully could not afford to tame it again.

Andre also tried to stop her from saying anything with a frantic head-shake and was consistently mouthing 'No'. Cat tended to get a little crazy and it often reached the stages of abuse. The last time, his hair got pulled and he got kicked in the ribs. It may or may have not been her but she initiated it. The only way to prevent that from happening was to keep her calm- no- keep her happy.

"Valentine's Day was totally named after you, Cat!" Andre said hurriedly before Tori could say anymore. He rubbed Cat's shoulder comfortingly, "Right Beck?"

Beck let go of Jade and came on Cat's other side, also giving her a back pat, "That is right. Oh gee, Cat, I have a gift for your big day! Say, I'll give it to you early. What do you think?"

The redhead's eyes seemed to light up even more as Beck backed away with a smile and grabbed onto his girlfriend's hand tightly.

Cat jumped up and down happily as she clapped her hands together, "Really? Oh boy, oh boy! Let's go!"

And before anyone else could blink, she grabbed Beck's free hand, forming a chain between herself, Beck, and Jade and dragged them away over to his locker in a long wiggly line. Jade nearly dropped her scissors, being at the end of the line and groaned in annoyance.

Andre shot the two a sympathetic look while Tori remained confused. She turned to face the dark- skinned boy with a frown on her face.

"What's her deal with Valentine's Day?"

"Well, she thinks of it as her second birthday," Andre explained with a smirk, "So she expects presents from all of us. You know how Cat can get."

Tori made a face.

"Sounds like a rip- off to me." She lamented with a raise of her eyebrows making Andre laugh. Her heart nearly stopped when he shot her a grin afterwards. She couldn't understand it. Lately whenever she was around Andre all she ever did was blush and had butterflies in her stomach over and over. What was that all about? She pondered on that before Andre broke through her thoughts.

"Well kudos to her. She'll always have a Valentine." Andre smiled before changing the subject, "Hey, I'll walk you to class."

She returned the smile before adjusting her books, "Sure. Lead the way."

They started walking and she was instantly reminded again of the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day. Hollywood Arts were unfortunately reminding her of its existence with balloons, streamers, giddy girls holding heart- shaped cards, guys munching on chocolates- yup. She just won't get cut a break.

"So," she started off before nudging her head towards all the bustle of activity around her, "What's your plan for Valentine's Day?"

Why was it that she was so hopeful for him to say none? It would be great if he found a great girl and had a great relationship unlike his last few- like with Sherry and Hope. But still, she hoped not.

Andre made a face as he stared straight ahead, "Same old, same old."

She gave him a clueless smile, "Meaning?"

"Meaning starting from now, I have to run around looking for a girl to be my Valentine." He responded. He really didn't want to. He would've just preferred coming up with the guts to ask the muse of his dreams out. But it didn't seem like she was interested. With every pump of confidence he got the night before, it would all drain out the moment he laid his eyes on her. Plus Tori made it so hard to ask her out. She was always dating some random hotshot with no brain and Andre was always the friend to go to when her heart got broken. He got friend-zoned so often that he now believed and felt that Tori truthfully was just not into him that way. It was better just to remain friends.

Andre sighed.

Hell, Tori was a great friend. She was always there when Andre needed her and that's the way it should remain.

Tori's hope rose when she heard his declaration.

"Well, if you want, if you know, nothing seems to come up, maybe you could just, you know, hang out-" She got interrupted by her loud sister who stomped over their way. Andre gave Tori a look of concern, not getting her point but before he could question her about it, Trina towered over the two of them in her latest heels.

"Tori! Where the hell is that dweeb friend of yours with that nasty- looking puppet?!" she demanded in question with a crazed look. Both Tori and Andre were taken aback and stared at each other for a while before staring back at the older Vega sister.

"Uh, don't you mean Robbie?" Andre asked uncertainly giving the girl a narrowed eyebrow.

Oh yeah. There goes one of the reasons why he's lucky that he isn't dating Tori. He wouldn't be able to handle her constant butting in. She did that often whenever Tori, he, and the rest of the gang hung out. Imagine how much more she'll surprise him with her uh… beauty.

"Whatever, Andrew!" Trina rolled her eyes before going on, "You tell your bug-eyed friend, Roland, that if he leaves one more creepy note in my locker, I will personally stomp him out!"

Andre and Tori tilted back as Trina gave them one scary glare before shoving past them and nearly tripping on her heels.

They both tried to hold back their laughs as she walked away from them, looking even more frustrated than she did a second ago.

Tori shook her head with a laugh, "Why the girl refuses to wear flats, I will never know."

Andre eyed Trina's super- high, sharp stilettos with widened eyes, "Yikes. I'd definitely be scared by that."

"You know? God." Tori laughed before scoffing in disbelief. She then massaged her hair with her free hand that wasn't carrying notebooks and textbooks.

Andre shook his head with a chuckle of his own before he took one last look at the retreating figure. He soon turned back to face Tori with a look of concern.

"Anyways… what was it that you were about to ask me?" he asked with a direct gaze.

Tori felt that at any second, she would blow up in embarrassment from the way he looked at her during that moment. God… what the hell was wrong with her nowadays? Did she hit her head somewhere and forgot? Lately all she was capable of doing was staring at him and blubbering incomprehensible syllables. Speaking of such drooling…

"Uh, Tori?" Andre arched his eyebrow, looking confused yet even more worried than before.

Lately, Tori seemed to drift off into her own world and he was worried about what may be troubling her. But whenever he asked her about it, she'd wave it off. Probably sparing him from hearing the hordes of guy problems she has. He should be grateful.

"Huh?"

She shook her head to distract herself from the moving shape of Andre's lips and stared into his deep brown eyes etched with worry. God, even his eyes made her weak in the knees. She shook her head a second time in attempts to straighten herself out.

"Nothing, nothing," she assured him before trying to bring up the topic of hanging out again, "I was just saying that-"

Just as she was about to bring the idea up, a flustered Robbie Shapiro, ran from around the corner and noticing the two, stood in between them. He looked around his surroundings frantically before clasping his hands onto Andre's shoulder blades.

"There you guys are!" he shrieked in relief as he shook the musician back and forth.

Oh God, he thought he was going to die! Thank God he found some sort of helpful back-up instead of that insulting puppet taking back seat in his backpack.

Andre removed Robbie's hands from his shoulders with a freaked- out glance.

"Space, man, space…!" Andre said before nodding at Robbie's book-bag, "Hey, I think Rex there's about to fall."

"Hey, Robbie." Tori greeted with a half-smile. She was a bit disappointed that Robbie decided to pop up now that she was mustering up the courage to ask Andre out, "How's its hanging?"

Tori punched Robbie's shoulder playfully just as he pulled out his puppet sticking from behind his back. He placed him in his hands and the puppet- much to the two's dismay- started talking.

"God, Curly, when I say whoa, what don't you get?" The puppet quipped humorously.

"What?" Robbie hissed before leaning into his puppet's ear, "I am not your horse. By all means walk on foot if you want to be so bossy, Rex!"

"Fussy, fussy." The puppet shot back just as Robbie sighed and raked a hand through his unruly mass of hair.

He understood laughing at himself and all but sometimes doing this was downright pathetic. He knew. Maybe it was the 5 year-old part of him that still wanted acknowledgement from his peers but the habit was stuck for now. He has gotten too used to making himself a spectacle.

"You do know you have an appointment with a stiletto coming up your way, right?" Tori asked with a voice of concern.

Robbie nodded and with an exasperated glance upwards he sighed again, "Trina."

Andre also wore a face of worry for his guy pal, "Yeah. Bro, are you okay? I understand trying to date any other girl in school, but why in Blitz's name are you trying to woo Trina of all people?"

Even if Robbie gave him some sort of answer in support of dating her, Andre would never, ever, ever understand. If Robbie dated Trina, he would have see more of her and that would be without the positive aspect of dating Tori. In other words, an eternal, ongoing nightmare.

No. No. Robbie and Trina cannot happen.

Robbie leaned against a set of lockers with a forlorn expression, "It was a mistake."

The two of them gave him another look.

A mistake? Uh no, no, no, no.

This was the same boy from freshman year who chased Trina for weeks because of a kiss they did in Drama class. Yeah, that was definitely not a mistake. Or maybe it was. Tori hoped the Jewish boy was telling the truth.

"A mistake?" she asked, hoping to get further explanation.

Rex interrupted, "More like mistakes plural. This dunzo here kept on stuffing the wrong locker like it was his job. Wouldn't the idiot's locker be pink with cupcakes?!"

"It's not my fault I didn't know if it was cupcakes or lipsticks! How was I to know?!" Robbie defended himself to the plastic puppet- in other words- himself.

"Well you ought to know. You're the one that's always stalking the red-headed ditz." Rex commented back.

Andre and Tori both watched the exchange with identical looks of confusion until Andre raised a hand to cut the man and the puppet off. This was getting too out of hand. Next thing you know, someone will be talking to their hand and pretending that it's real.

"Okay…" he shook his head as if to regain normality before questioning, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Robbie frowned with a downcast gaze, "Those letters weren't meant for Trina. They were meant for Cat."

"Oh…" the two best friends realized in unison. Now they understood.

"Well," Tori started off, "Why not give her the letters and gifts personally? I mean that's what Beck's doing right now. He's giving her a gift."

Robbie's head swerved in Tori's direction before he leveled his gaze with hers.

Beck? Beck is giving Caterina a gift?! Whatever for? Doesn't he have that demon spawn of a girlfriend to deal with or what?! Those two were either on or off faster than a light switch and it was super annoying to deal with.

"Seriously?" Robbie retorted with a pout, "What did he break up with Jade again or something?"

The Latina and the African- American boy gave him another look of confusion. Sometimes this guy was extra confusing.

"Huh?" Andre managed to ask before Robbie interfered by rambling on.

"And so what? His next girlfriend to be on his list is Cat? Oh, go figure. Of course she'd be!" He finished off with a wail. He then clutched his heart with a forlorn expression as he slid downward against the school lockers. It was all over. Cat and Beck would become the new Ariel and Eric and live happily ever after while he would suffer the cost. Oh the agony of loving!

The two best friends gave each other looks before giving the pale boy the same weird look.

"You think Beck would want to date Cat first if things didn't work out with Jade?" Tori scoffed with a laugh, "That, that's ridiculous."

Beck. Beck was the guy Tori used to like, similar to every other girl at Hollywood Arts. But she didn't like him that much to get into never-ending drama with the school's revered Goth girl. Even though he's a nice guy and had that additional super- hotness, a little part of her knew she would be bored quickly in a relationship with him. Not that she was boring or he was. It was just that they both were so alike that there would be no challenge in that sort of relationship. He was better off with Jade and plus, she liked seeing the Goth and the Indie together. They complimented the other well even if some may not agree.

"Uh, man, Jade and Beck are very much together," Andre assured his friend with a back pat before shrugging, "Or at least it seemed that way to me."

He looked back at Tori who seemed to keel over hearing that 'Beck would choose Cat next to date'. Typical. Like every other girl, she's in love with Beck Oliver, his best friend. There goes another reason why he and Tori will never be together.

The brunette seemed to have recovered and she noticed that Robbie was still depressed. So she knelt down beside him and tried to cheer him up with encouraging words.

"Yeah, I mean, hey, even I have to give Cat her Valentine." She mentioned with a smile as she rubbed the curly-haired boy's back.

She had no damn clue what she was getting the girl but the girl was amazed by nearly anything. Eh, she could buy her a pack of bibble.

Robbie froze and looked astounded after hearing Tori's declaration.

Tori wants Cat to be her Valentine?! It was great that Tori was being open about her feelings and all during this time and age, but why Cat?! Cat was his girl! There were other lesbians out there to date.

"Hubba- hubba!" The puppet sing-songed, "Tori's got the hots for Cat…"

"What?" Robbie let out a cry of devastation as Tori nodded, backing up what she previously said. She kept on bobbing her head until she realized how Robbie interpreted it.

"Right- Wait a minute!" she shouted with a rapid headshake of 'no' as she rose from her position on the ground, "No, no, not in that way!"

"Yeah, I'm giving Cat a gift too." Andre commented with a nod, not really paying much attention to the small details like Tori.

Robbie looked threatened. What the hell was going on here? Did everyone in the damned school like Cat Valentine?! Why? Why?!

"Why?" he shrieked in horror, "Why do you all have to like Cat?!"

"Because she's cheerful, a great friend, makes awesome cupcakes, always a positive, beaming, ray of light in this-" Tori rambled on until she realized the strange looks the guys shot her way, "What? I can't make a few nice comments about a friend?"

Cat was sincerely nice. She was one of the first people Tori talked to at Hollywood Arts with the exception of Andre. The girl deserved a whole lot more than just bibble! She would have to think about what to get the petite girl.

Andre shook his head with a laugh, "Dude! We aren't in love with Cat or something! Don't tell me you forgot about Cat's gift giving business on Valentine's Day?"

Seriously? Having a crush on Cat? That was laughable. Like, Cat? No way.

Robbie's facial expression relaxed as he rose on his feet, "Oh yeah… I forgot about that."

Andre nodded in agreement, "Apparently so."

"But I didn't think there'd be this much competition." Robbie laughed awkwardly with a toss of his curly hair.

There will always be a batch of suitors whether Robbie could help it or not because Cat was so beautiful. But one day, she'll see he is the one for her! For now, it was okay for nobodies to try and capture her heart. They won't succeed.

"Dude, that's not what I meant-"Andre tried to clarify but instead he got interrupted by a loud screech coming from behind them.

"ROLAND!"

"And the demon wearing Prada arrives, ladies and gentlemen." Rex quipped.

"Oh God, Oh God," Robbie wailed, "She's coming for me! She's coming for me!"

He quickly ran in front of the two before grabbing Tori's right arm with one hand and Andre's left arm with the other as he turned them around, making them his fence of defense.

"It's just Trina," Andre shrugged carelessly as he gave his scared friend a glance, "Is it really that serious?"

He understood Trina was you know, Trina but it wasn't like she was some horrific monster.

"It's Trina, Andre," Tori reminded him, "My psychotic sister. It is way beyond serious."

Andre thought about it for a second. Then again, the girl was a pure monster when he, Robbie, and Beck were stuck taking care of her when her wisdom tooth got pulled out. She was the craziest person he'd ever lay eyes on.

"Yeah you're right." He rapidly agreed, "I mean who the heck else we're talking about? Silly me."

The screech seemed to be getting nearer, "ROLAND! Come out, come out, wherever you are! I will find you!"

"Roland? Who the hell's Roland? I see no Roland…" Rex commented.

Robbie peeped up from behind their shoulders and rested his head in between their blades.

"Look I'd hate to interrupt you guys and the midget comedian, but… I'M ABOUT TO BECOME KUMQUAT!" he shrieked out his eight last syllables causing his defense to jump.

God, if he died he'd wonder how long it would take for everyone to find out. Having conversations seemed like a more convenient way of spending time instead of helping out a friend.

"Okay, Chill, bro..." Andre raised his hands in defense, trying to calm Robbie down until his curiosity got the better of him, "Kumquat. .. Kumquat. That sounds like food. I wonder if it tastes good…"

"Yeah, I think it's a citrus or something," Tori said with nod, "But I don't think it's flattened at all..."

The two both nod, half- ignoring Robbie who gave them both a look of exasperation.

"Who cares?!" Robbie yelled, breaking off the two's attention, "I'm going to be maimed at any given second!"

"Just make sure I'm number one in your will, Four Eyes." Rex added, "I call dibs on the Pear Laptop."

Andre looked back from his terrified friend over to the resounding steps that grew closer and louder by the second. He sighed before turning to face the curly- haired guy.

"How about I walk you to class?" Andre suggested, "I'll watch out for Trina and any trapdoors or booby traps set with stiletto heels, okay?"

"Really?" Robbie blinked in happiness, nearly shedding tears.

Andre rolled his eyes. Robbie was unbelievably theatrically at times it was crazy.

"Yes, really," he answered with a deadpanned look, "Come on."

Just as Andre was about to wave in Tori's direction and head off straightaway, Robbie chose that exact moment to hug the dreadlocked musician tightly.

"Oh, I love you! I love you! I love you!" he repeated happily as a wiggling Andre tried to unravel from his surprisingly strong grip. God, he was just like one of those stalker girls. There was no way of removing the ventriloquist or the dummy that was pierced into Andre's side, being in between the two guys. Robbie was so touchy- feely. He would have to talk to him about it when they took Ballet class later.

"You say I love you one more time, and I will have second thoughts…" he muttered as he dragged on his side, Robbie, who hung onto him with a huge smile, "Later, Tori."

"I'll see you at SIkowitz'." She called after Andre and Robbie who walked stealthily back in the opposite direction; trying to avoid any girl that looked anything remotely like Trina.


	2. Chapter 2

_After a whole decade has gone by, I have finally decided to quit being a sack of laziness and have finally typed up this second part. Enjoy, Review, and Hope (that I will finish this story with some sense of commitment) AND once more, REVIEW or else I really won't have any commitment to this story at all. I need motivation, guys!_

Disclaimer: _Victorious is not mines and never will be. There are tears welling in my eyes… _

Chapter Two

"Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!" Cat rubbed her hands together as she jumped repeatedly with joy.

She was finally getting her first gift of the year. And coming from one of her closest friends, it was bound to be a good one. Oh, she just could hardly wait to see it!

As Cat jumped up and down with excitement, Jade shot the girl a look of tedium while her boyfriend, Beck turned back to give the petite girl an undecipherable glance as he tried to unlock the lock that hung in front of his locker. Cat was getting too excited for comfort and truthfully it came on a bit too strong at times- right now being one of those times. She was so… energetic. He did admire her positivity but in some cases her positivity just gave the opposite effect. Instead it was becoming very tiresome. Plus, now he really felt that his gift might make her the very opposite of her happy- Her mad. Scary thought.

Beck turned back to twirling his dial in both clockwise and counter- clockwise directions and was yet again interrupted by the redhead. Why couldn't she just stay quiet for once? I mean, he understood the excitement about getting a gift but hello?! Silent happiness does exist! He would know. After all, he was an expert when it came to that field.

"What is it?! What is it?! What is it?!" she asked so rapidly that both Jade and Beck nearly couldn't catch what she had just asked.

Jade scowled and she crossed her arms over her chest before she gave the short girl a glare.

"You'll see! You'll see! You'll see!" she imitated Cat's high- pitched baby voice with an eye roll at the end of her mimic. Maybe if the girl heard exactly how she sounded she'd quit talking like an overgrown baby. For God's sake, the girl was 17- years old already! She understood Cat's innocence but was it necessary for her to talk as if she was learning her ABC's for the first time?

Beck's gaze turned to his girlfriend and he gave her an eyebrow raise, "Jade…"

Jade was being a little too harsh. No wait. The girl was always harsh. She was always so to pretty much everyone- for no given reason at all. Even though he agreed with the Goth wholeheartedly- especially in this case- it still wasn't an excuse to be confrontational- especially with an innocent girl like Cat.

Jade fully ignored him as she pressed on in attempts for Cat to see her point, "Just calm your Little Miss Peppermint tush down! You'll see it when you see it! Geez, ADHD, can't you just stand still for one goddamned second?!"

Why couldn't the girl understand? Jade had enough of the constant hopping. It's not as if people actually want to see her hopping all over the goddamned place like the Easter Bunny. It was going to drive her crazy at any given rate.

Beck glared at his girlfriend in disbelief as Cat sadly looked down at her pink kitten heels. Aw, now he just felt plain bad.

"Just give me a second here, okay, Cat?" he said sweetly with a comforting tone of voice and a single back rub. She could jump as far and high as she wanted to. Heck. She was getting a gift after all.

He gave her a reassuring smile and she returned the gesture- a bit slower and uncertain.

And that's why Cat loved her friend Beck. He was so kind and he always knew how to make her feel better. He always had her side whenever she dealt with different kinds of confrontation. She was glad he was one of her closest friends.

Jade sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes again as Beck turned towards his locker dial for a third time. Cat started to bounce again as she happily clapped her hands together. A few locks of hair swished in the Goth's face as the redhead bounced causing Jade to glower harder at the girl. It took a few more bounces for Cat to figure out what she was doing before she eventually widened her eyes and took a few bounces away from the snarling black- clad girl slowly.

Just at that moment, Beck managed to open his locker wide and eventually pulled out- with a struggle- a huge red velvet plush cupcake. Cat's excitement instantaneously returned when she saw what the Indian boy carried in his arms.

Is it really? Is it really what she thought it really was? Cat's grin grew wider in anticipation.

"For me?!" she asked with unreadable surprise. She couldn't really believe her eyes. Was that really a cupcake?!

Beck looked a bit unsure before he confidently shot her one of his legendary, irresistible grins as Jade raises an eyebrow at the stuffed confectionary in his hands.

Wow.

Jade's brow creased inwards some more as she crossed her arms over her chest – maintaining her usual stature. Oh Lordy.

Cat clasped her hands together in absolute glee and started bouncing.

Wow, wow, wow!

"Happy Cat Day, Cat." He said slowly with a tone of enthusiasm as if Cat were really 5- years-old. He pushed the cupcake out for the petite girl to reach.

Jade couldn't help but make a comment. It was so… like a cupcake?

"Wow, a stuffed cupcake." Jade repeated Cat's thoughts out loud- but with more of an ironic tone of voice. Where the hell did Beck even find something like that? Hallmark?

The Goth blinked repeatedly as she stared at the tall grinning boy.

Cat meanwhile seemed to be alternating between giggling and smiling before she finally grabbed the stuffed toy from Beck and held it tightly in her embrace. She settled with a content giggle with tears glittering in her eyes as she looked up at Beck in appreciation.

Jade shook her head in disbelief. God. She could get the girl a paper plate and the chick would still be happy. This was so demented.

As she thought about how ridiculous the gift was, a black velvet box stuck underneath a couple of textbooks in Beck's locker caught her off-guard. What the heck was that?! Hold up…

Jade moved in closer towards her boyfriend's locker for a confirmation but was interrupted by a high- pitched squeal coming from Cat. She turned away from the locker to be met with the sight of Cat doing her ridiculous bunny-hop dance.

Beck laughed at the sight of his happy petite best friend. He wasn't sure how Cat would react to his gift but he sure as hell was happy with her reaction now. Thank God, she likes it.

"I saw this the other day and I thought, 'Hey, Cat likes red velvet cupcakes' and so I got you this big life -sized one. You like it, Cat?"

"Yeah, a big inedible one…" Jade muttered with a snort, "What a waste."

The tanned redhead hugged it to her chest with unstoppable nodding, "I love it! I love it! I love it!"

She gave Beck a tight hug with the stuffed cupcake in between them as Jade rolled her eyes for the thousandth time towards the heavens. She would never understand Cat. Lord knows she tried.

"My ears! My ears! My ears!" Jade screeched, her gaze unmoving from the school's ceiling above them.

Why? What did she do in her previous life to be surrounded by- this - in this life?! Oh and let's add the Vegas and Shapiro to the list. Why?! And how?! And like why again?!

Beck shot his girlfriend another one of his usual looks of chastisement just as Cat decided to raise her stuffed cupcake in the air.

"Look at me! Look at me!" Cat called out with a huge smile on her face, "I got a big red velvet cupcake!"

Jade raises her eyebrows at this sudden proclamation just as Cat brought down the cupcake, suddenly fascinated with the two plastic, googly eyes in the front.

"With googly eyes…" Cat said softly, almost to herself. She fixated on the eyeball and starts picking at it. "Ooh, look! The black dots can move!"

"Corneas!" Jade corrected loudly with a cross of her arms, an annoyed expression glued onto her face. How long can she take this? She turned to Beck with an expectant glare.

"Really, Beck?" she taunted with a narrowed brow, "Is this how you view your relationship with Cat? It's worth a stuffed cupcake?"

The Canadian boy pulled Jade off to the side, completely cutting her off. He took a quick glance at Cat who had a content grin on her face before he wiped off the false grin that was smacked across his face and cautiously addressed his girlfriend.

"Look. All that matters here is the fact that she is happy," Beck quickly whispered with one more glance in Cat's direction. He scanned Jade from head to toe multiple times with a frown, "And besides, I don't see you with a gift."

Jade could've laughed for the whole damned world to hear but settled with an amused snort. This dude was hilarious. Did Beck not know her by now? Her? Giving a gift? And Cat? Uh, no. Makes no and never will make any sense whatsoever.

"Beck," she gave him a devilish smirk before she continued with a cocked eyebrow, "You amuse me."

The Indian boy was extremely lost. Where the hell was Jade getting at? Cat has been the mean-spirited girl's closest friend for years now. Even way longer before he and Jade met and started dating- or even became friends for that matter. Why wouldn't Jade give the girl who has dealt with her sour attitude with a happy- go- lucky smile for way too long a gift was beyond his wildest imagination.

His eyes drifted from Jade's as he glanced at the scene and all the action that was happening around them at that very moment. His gaze fell last on a twirling and giggling Cat as he tried to come up with something in response.

"Whoa, I'm getting dizzy- wizzy!" Cat said to no one in particular as she paused with a laugh before she resumed twirling again anyways.

Beck gave her an uncomfortable smile before he faced Jade again who had her arms crossed protectively across her chest and her smirk naturally struck upon her face.

"But she's your friend." He finally stated with an uncertain tone. It had sounded more like a question rather than a fact- partially due to the fact that he didn't want to get into another argument so early in the morning.

Jade's pierced eyebrows both raised as if to say 'No duh' as she started swaying with a leveled gaze trained on Beck's.

"For all the times I had to defend her ass, I have better been a friend." The pale girl spat out before she sighed and waved the whole topic off with a simple wave of her hand. Jade really did not feel like getting into this right at this moment, "Any who, it's not as if I wanted to be the girl's friend in the first place. She's absolutely loco." She winced at her choice of words and decided to ease the blow she had inflicted on her oblivious petite friend as she rephrased herself, "Look, I just know better than to get caught up on all this gift- giving shenanigan, alright?"

Beck nodded with an absentminded look. He would just rather be spared the 'no shit' lecture. Probably shouldn't have brought that topic up.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair just as Cat hopped over to the frowning Goth with a hopeful look on her face.

"Jade," Cat started with an adorable smile, "Are you going to give me my-"

"No!" Jade interrupted promptly with scowl as her eyes stayed gunned on her boyfriend.

"Okay." Cat replied with a rapid yet hushed tone as she skittered away to hide behind Beck, the calm tower of refuge, who had rolled his eyes at Jade's immaturity.

She's acting like she can't buy the girl some silly gift for a dollar. There were plenty of gifts out there but he knew Jade. She always did stuff like this to deliberately prove a point. And the point was? He'd never know.

Just at that moment, Hollywood Arts' tech- savvy geeks- Sinjin Van Cleef and his best friend, Burf- shot from around the corner, both deep in what seemed to be an invigorating conversation for the two.

"And, so my good man, that is precisely how I found my tuna fish sandwich," The boy with the wild unruly hair finished off with a vibrant and dramatic air before he gave his bum a vigorous pat, "Right here."

Jade made a face and looked from his mouth to his butt.

"How in the world did he manage to eat that?!" Jade whispered in question to both Cat and Beck.

Beck shrugged with a negative shake of his head while Cat pouted and looked upwards as if she really was curious as to how as well.

"Ooh! Maybe-"Cat started to say after a second, but was eventually interrupted by a scowling Jade.

"I really don't want to know, silly!" she hissed at the short redhead who flinched at the interruption but Cat's dimples quickly turned upwards when Sinjin resumed his story.

He stroked his chin as he came up with another thought, "Although… I would've never thought that sitting on it would've done the trick. It is actually quite tasty and enjoyable all mashed up if you don't really mind that feeling that still remains on your butt… meh, I found it rather tolerable. It made me feel frisky."

Sinjin made a deep purr as he placed a hand out and scraped out at the air with a curl of his lips. The couple about a few paces ahead from them both shot this scene identical looks of disgust after what they had just heard processed through their brains. This kid was just absolutely gross. There was no rectifying that. He was just meant to be that way… unfortunately.

Burf nodded in understanding.

"You know, I did do the same with a bell pepper…" he commented with a nonchalant gaze struck on his face. He grabbed another from his back pocket and ate it in a gulp, "I think this one too… the taste is different."

Beck and Jade both visually cringed at the sight of this.

"I know right?" Sinjin remarked with a tone of excitement, "It has that unusual effect that makes it taste great!"

Beck's face contorted even more as Jade keeled over and started to make hurling noises in the background, causing the two to notice the three and walk their way.

Cat who was the only one out of the three who wasn't disturbed by the conversation that had just occurred, bounced over to the two tech nerds with her usual beam and laugh.

"Sinjin! Burf!" The redhead called out enthusiastically, "It's my day! Where are my gifts?!"

The brunette's jaw drops as she shot Cat the most deadpanned look that she could possibly muster and addressed no one in particular.

"Wow. The chick gets one ridiculous gift early and now it's magically a gift- giving bonanza," she commented with a sarcastic edge. She raised her eyebrows knowingly, "The life of a Valentine. Beautiful, ain't it?"

The floppy haired teen shot his girlfriend a look. Why was she complaining? At least Cat wasn't bothering her anymore about gifts. She should be relieved. She shouldn't be caring about Cat and whether she was getting any gifts at all.

"You do know that you didn't get her anything, right?" Beck reminded her as his eyebrow arched in question. He added, "Why are you complaining?"

Jade shot her boyfriend a crazed- out glare as her fingers dug into her arms.

"Because I can!" she screeched with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Beck was seriously scared now. Who knows what the hell his "girlfriend" planned to do to him now because of that one mere question. Why did she always take things one step too far?

"Or are you just telling me I can't?!" she raved on with a violent raise of her hands, getting into the Canadian boy's face with a menacing look.

Beck slowly started to step back away from the angry girl in an attempt to get farther away but instead his back eventually met up with the bright and unusual lockers. He let out a nervous laugh when Jade had him cornered, her face inches away from his.

"Am I not obligated enough to voice my opinions?! Huh?! "She went on, with an unwavering tone as she poked his chest, "You got a problem, bro?! Huh?! Tell me!"

"What? Me? No, sweetie, no! No way." He scoffed as if the very idea of that was inane before he shot her another anxious grin.

Jade just smirked deviously at his state. Had better been.

"And that is what I thought." She responded calmly as if she hadn't been upset at all. She crossed her arms and backed away from him. Beck took a deep breath of relief before he rolled his eyes and smiled to himself. Sometimes Jade was unbelievably too much. But wasn't that what he liked about her? Life was strange and confusing sometimes.

Beck moved from the lockers and wrapped an arm around those familiar pale shoulders and gave her shoulder blade a soft peck.

This made the dark- clad girl smile genuinely. She reached for the tanned hand that hung from over her shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze.

Both gave one another glances as a mutual understanding crossed between them before they both strolled casually towards the happy bubblehead and the two weird geeks who seemed engrossed in their conversation with Cat- or perhaps just her boobs since they absolutely wouldn't look at her face at all. By the time to couple approached the two, they were able to catch a few words on Sinjin's part.

"As ravishing as you look, my delicious red-headed pixie, Burf and I have both agreed to settle our affections on another lucky fair maiden this Valentine's Day." He explained to the petite girl.

At the sound of this, Cat pouted while Beck interrupted the conversation, trying to seek clarity.

"So what you two - and when I say two I mean Sinjin, because this sounds ridiculously like something he would suggest- are saying is that you're both going to go after the same girl?" he asked with an uncertain gaze at the two boys.

Sinjin pushed his glasses that was perched on the bridge of his nose, further up and narrowed his gaze at the Hollywood Arts heartthrob as if to see him clearly before shooting him a matter- of- fact glance.

"Unfortunately, you have already claimed hold of my first option, Beck Oliver." Sinjin reminded him with his typical creepy smile and a suggestive raise of his eyebrows.

Jade and Beck both shuddered when the frizzy- haired teen shot Jade another gross smile- which was probably meant to be flirty- and waggled his eyebrows at her. God. This guy had absolutely no game whatsoever.

"I swear to God, one day, I will kill you," Jade said through clenched teeth as her gaze zoned in on the bespectacled teen, "It will be a very slow and painful death."

Sinjin gave her another one of his creepy smiles. It's as if nothing will absolutely faze this guy, it's crazy.

"All the more the better," he answered slyly with a double wink- that confused everyone around him. Was that like a wink or not?

"Seeing my sweet for one last time will be so endearing." Sinjin added with his twisted smile still plastered across his face.

Jade quickly interrupted, changing her words.

"Fast and swift." She said in a rapid yet crisp tone as she blinked repeatedly at the lanky teen and afterwards gave him a nasty glare.

"Aw, darn." Sinjin frowned before he resumed his natural facial expression and faced the boyfriend of the girl he had explicably failed to flirt with. Sinjin nudged his head in Beck's direction.

"And there is the reason why both Burf and I have to settle our affections elsewhere." He explained before he choked dramatically, "You- you stole my dear Princess Jadelyn's heart!"

Beck looked a bit confused as his eyes moved left to right before settling back on Sinjin.

"My bad?" he finally managed to say with a hint of question and a shrug.

Jade on the other hand looked outraged. Her nostrils flared voluntarily.

"If you call me that one more time, bravado, you'll be feeling a whole lot more than a sandwich corrupted with the unbearable stench of shit and flatulence on that nasty ass of yours," she threatened in an elaborate fashion as she poked his shoulder blade with each word, "Got it, pipsqueak?!"

"Oh Jade," Sinjin swooned as he ignored her warning with a dismissive wave and a lovesick grin, "Your heart will be mines one glorious day!"

"Oh, there is just no talking to this dumbass…" Jade muttered with a roll of her eyes as she turned away from the acne- faced teen. Beck's look of uncertainty grew deeper as his eyebrows narrowed Sinjin's way.

His smile became tight, "Yeah, but you never really had it though, did you, pal?"

Sinjin frowned for the second time.

His voice became thick instead of the melt, gushy tone it was previously, "Exactly, Beck. And that's where Burf and his companion enter the picture."

"I'm not seeing how that relates to anything." Beck commented with a cross of his arms, imitating his girlfriend's posture as she stood behind him with a scowl. He shot Sinjin a deadpanned look before he addressed the quiet boy who stood next to him and Cat both.

"This whole quest of wooing the same chick doesn't bother you in the least, Burf?" he asked with a look of concern.

It's bad enough that the kid hung out with this weirdo the whole time and now the weirdo was going to jack up his flow? Cruel. Beck hoped Burf would at least realize that.

Burf shot him a look of nonchalance before shaking his head from left to right. God, maybe it was a good idea for Sinjin to bag chicks with him. The guy barely even talks!

Sinjin instantaneously spoke up for the light- skinned boy with a verbal enthusiasm.

"Of course it doesn't!" he snorted as if the very idea of that was impossible, "We're the dynamic duo! I have the words to smooth the ladies over while my good man here has the physical sexual appeal! Together, we're the perfect guy!"

At the end of that refreshing yet unrealistic biography, the two weird best friends stood back to back with their hands clasped together as they raised their pointer fingers in the air, making finger pistols.

"Whoa!" Cat commented before grinning happily at the two with consistent hand- clapping, "That's like so cool! You two are one person! I never met anyone like that- or is it people-?"

Beck blinked rapidly as Cat mellowed in her self-confusion. He tried to find the right words to say but comes up with none. He settled on cocking his head to the side and looked at the two with curiosity.

"Burf has sex appeal?" Jade blurted out in question before smirking, "Now, that's a first…"

"Hell yeah we do!" Sinjin confirmed in belief, adding himself to the sarcastic comment. He swiftly turned to Burf before he chanted out, "Chest- bump!"

The two then both proceeded to chest-bump one another- Burf, a bit more harder than the pale lanky boy. Sinjin ended up falling over as Burf rubbed his chest with an obvious display of pain.

"You two are just meant to be." Jade snorted.

"You always chest- bump so hard, Burf! What the hell?!" Sinjin called out from the tile floor with a groan, "What did I say about that?! How many times did we practice this?!"

Burf shot his friend an apologetic look, "Sorry."

"This…" Jade interrupted with a swish of her finger back and forth from the two, "Is stupid. So, so, so, so, so stupid. You two are stupid. Stupid. That sums up your life story, alright. Stupid. S- T- U- P- I- D. Stupid."

Beck shook his downcast head in shame, a sign of apparent agreement. How did he even know these people? Much less even hang out with one of them that day he was desperate for company when he had wanted to go to that drag race? That was it. He was officially surrounded by too much weird. He needed to hang out with some normal people nowadays- like Andre and Tori. The only two faces of normality in this "bonkerville" of a school.

Cat, who had finally given up on trying to understand how the two separate beings could possibly be one, suddenly giggled. She rolled a strand of her bright red hair around a pointer finger with a flutter of her eyelashes as she faced the two skinny boys again.

"Where's my gift?" she asked them again.

It's as if words just flew over her head sometimes.

Burf gave Sinjin a look before the natural frizzy-haired teen merely shrugged and shot him a look just as tentative.

"Um, there is no gift?" Burf responded cautiously, his eyes flitted back from Cat and his best friend.

"Huh?" Cat started to look frantic before she cried out, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You weren't supposed to say it like that, Burf!" SInjin hissed before he quickly arose from the ground with a yank at Burf's arm. In turn, Burf ended up getting knocked onto the ground while the teen with the glasses stepped over him and came closer to the small girl with a serious look on his face.

"Cat?" Sinjin started off as he clasped both of her tiny hands in his.

She gazed up at him with a look of expectation.

"Yes?" she asked hopefully.

"You aren't getting quack- doodle, my little cherubim angel." He responded with an ironically sweet tone and smile.

Jade was astonished yet impressed. Not many managed to upset or disagree with the little redhead due to fear but the guy managed to do so.

"I have a new profound respect for the geek," Jade murmured to Beck off to the side before she added, "Not that he'll ever know or hear that from me."

Cat meanwhile processed the news with an expression mixed with confusion yet sadness as she tried to figure out what it meant exactly for her. Did this mean… she was really not getting a gift from them? No! Why?! She was always nice to them! She always had nothing but positive comments to say about the two. Even when others called them losers, she called them winners! And this is the thanks she gets? Wait . There must be a mistake.

She let out her exasperation with a scream, still bearing the same lost expression as she looked around her before looking back at the tall, lanky teen whose hands were still clasped with hers.

"B- But it's my day…" she sputtered out with rapid eye-blinking.

Sinjin shrugged and the corners of his lips tugged upwards.

"Well, I understand that but _no se puede hacer…"_

"Huh?" Cat looked confused until a sigh escaped from Jade's lips.

"Even in all that nerd gibberish, even I could tell that the Frizzy Bros. were saying that they aren't giving you shit." The Goth shot her best friend a deadpanned look, "The end. Close book. Moral: Geeks can be mean. Wow, I've learned. Haven't you?"

After hearing this, Cat's head whipped angrily back to Sinjin and Burf as she gave them a glare.

"What?!" she exclaimed, clearly upset.

"Well- a- whoopee, the epilogue, "Jade raved on sarcastically, "Spoiler alert! Don't mess with innocent good girls, they'll make you pay."

Both of the skinny teens took the warning to heart and looked automatically frenzied.

"Run for it! Run for it!" Sinjin warned Burf before the two managed to dash off. It was a bit more complicated for the light skinned African- American boy, who was on the floor doubled over in pain. But he even eventually scrambled upwards while Sinjin had unclasped his hands from Cat's and was already a corner away.

Cat ran after the two of them, but her much shorter legs slowed her down a bit as her arms were wrapped around her big life-sized cupcake.

"Wait up, guys!" she wailed with another pout, "I can't run after you that fast!"

There was no response but the sight of the two boys growing dimmer and dimmer by each passing second.

"We have the same class too, you know!" she called after them before pushing herself onwards in the same direction they had passed a while ago.

Beck and Jade glanced at one another after all of this and eventually Beck turned his attention back onto his locker. Jade noticing this, leaned against a couple of lockers nearby his. She gave him a smirk as he twisted the dial on his locker again.

"So, cupcakes, huh?" Jade mentioned with a hint of irony in her voice, "You give excellent gifts, Beckett."

Beck didn't recognize the sarcasm as he pulled his locker open, giving a full view of it to his girlfriend.

"Hey, it was 5 bucks, red, and a cupcake." He defended himself with a relaxed air, "And plus, Cat loves it. It's not like I have money lying around. If I did you better believe I'd be back in Canada. I mean who the hell doesn't like hockey?"

"I don't." she said simply with a frown as the familiar black, rectangular box caught her attention again from underneath his textbooks, "You got a whole lot of jewels lying around, though… curious."

Beck's eyebrows instantly narrowed at the sound of this as he followed Jade's penetrating gaze that still lingered on the inside of his locker.

"What are you talking about?" he asked quickly.

As if he really didn't know.

The brunette rolled her eyes as Beck instinctively closed his locker with a thud before he stood in front of it protectively.

"Well, _I'm _talking about that black velvet box in your locker." Jade mimicked his careless tone as she glared at him in attempt to make him crack.

Oh God.

She knows.

"Velvet box? What black velvet box?" he asked casually before muttering with a nervous grin, "I have no black velvet box…"

Jade closed her eyes and drew in a very deep breath before letting it all out.

"Beck, I may be mean," she started off slowly, "But the last thing I'll ever be is an idiot or Cat for that matter- I say that with love. Now. What… Is…In…The…Bloody…Thing?!"

Beck winced at the last yelled words.

"Okay, okay," he rubbed his head as he turned back to his locker, "I'll show you! Just, please stop yelling…"

Really. He was going to show her a gift some bimbo got for him? Or even worse, what he was going to give to some bimbo behind her back?! Wow. Jade was truly amazed. Beck had guts. Way too much of it.

Jade frowned as Beck instinctively shoved the rectangular box into her hands. Her scowl grew wider as the Indian boy shoved his fists in his cargo pants' pockets and examined his scuffed motorcycle boots.

"I don't know. I put a lot of thought into this gift." He finally managed to say with a quiet tone of voice, "I was going to give it to you on Valentine's Day but now is a good time as any."

The brunette's lips turned into a thin, straight line bearing no emotion with the exceptional little hint of surprise. It took a while for her to process what Beck had just said but when she did, her blue eyes enlarged.

What? A gift? For her?! She was the bimbo?!

"Gift? What are you talking about?" Jade asked with a look of obvious confusion.

Um. What the hell was happening?

The indie- hipster looked a bit concerned as he quipped with a deadpanned look, "Your gift for Valentine's Day. From me, Beck Oliver. Your boyfriend, remember?"

Beck chuckled almost nervously as he peered at her in curiosity. He shook his head before he seemed to remember something. He pulled out a small white envelope from underneath some more stacks of books in his locker before handing it to her with a bashful look at his boots.

"This is also for you."

Jade retrieved the crisp white letter from Beck and glanced quickly at the familiar yet messy cursive of her name sprawled out in front of it. Is this what she thought it was? Some letter about feelings? She so did not do feelings.

She was absolutely frozen still as she looked back up at her beau whose eyes also met hers and noticed her tense poise.

"Go on," he urged, "Read it."

Damn. Did she really have to…?

As is awaken from a spell, Jade tucked the box under her arm and silently concentrated on unsealing the envelope before she took out the folded slip of paper inside. Beck's messy yet neat scrawl shot back up at her once again but this time it was scattered all over the page. She gave him an uncertain look before she read the letter.

_ Jade,_

_ Truthfully, our love isn't what I would call perfect. I'm pretty sure you'd agree._

Jade stopped with a teasing scoff and said to no one in particular, "You better believe it."

Beck rolled his eyes with a smile as she resumed reading.

_We don't have that typical Cinderella- Prince Charming sort of thing that most chicks would die for. Even the way we met wasn't all flamboyant. I mean, technically, I 'met' your foot first before I truly met you and your striking blue eyes. Fine, I'll admit it. I fell hard the day I met you. _

Jade paused at this point and gave her boyfriend a look of exasperation. Oh great. This was a love letter. Beck doesn't notice her exasperated look as his eyes roam all over the hallway and all ongoing traffic happening around the two of them. God. This was a very humiliating experience for him. Jade shook a strand of hair away from her eyes before she continued to read.

_Even though we were a bit younger, I always wanted to be by your side. I even admitted to my parents that I wanted to marry you in 3__rd__ grade. Andre even laughed when I told him then. But because of that day I met you during recess on that sunny yet weirdly cold autumn day, the whole idea of you and me became a possibility. When we hit middle school, it was a reality. But ever since I've known you, I have always admired your strength and resilence. I loved how you would always speak your mind no matter what. I know I never said this to you directly face to face. Rather I do the opposite of praise and I often bite your ass about it most of the time._

Aw. Even she was touched at this point.

She looked up and gave him a small yet nervous smile as she said quietly, "This is news."

Beck met her gaze and blushed profusely before looking down again.

_Despite our totally different social approaches, we managed to become friends. Eventually, the feelings I had towards you grew into something bigger. Love._

Jade nearly choked.

_And admitting that was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I mean, you're you. Blunt, direct, and a bit harsh. But at that moment, you were sweet and understanding about it- something that I as well as many others never publicly see. That was 8__th__ grade. Now in our junior year, I am still glad that I made the choice to confess. In turn, confessing got me you. To this day, I don't ever regret having you by my side._

All traces of sarcasm and scowling faded as Jade read. The letter shook a bit in between her fingerprints as her chest started to get a weird tingling feeling.

_Jade, you might scoff at this next thing I write since it is absolutely cliché and I know how much you hate cliché. But I can't help myself but write it down anyways. _

_Jade, you are that missing piece of me. With you, everything just clicks. Everything feels right and just makes sense. I dunno, there's no other way to express or explain the way I feel but to be like those million other guys in the world that sweet- talks their girl or rather one of their girls- plural. But I still can't help but feel this way about you. Honestly. And I thank the stars, the heavens- God. I thank God that you have always been there by my side, through thick and through thin as my partner, my sidekick, no, my other half. _

_Anyways, all I ask of you in this sad and pointless excuse of a letter is for you to be mines. It is really, really hard to even ask you that out loud so I really hope that this letter here can suffice. Will you be mine? Not just for a holiday, not even for a year- but as long as possible, I will love and keep on loving you. I hope you do want to be mine and that you also feel the same way about me. No. I already know you do, Jade. _

_Love,_

_Beck_

Jade still stares at the note in her hands as she licked away the dryness of her lips.

"Uh… wow." She finally managed to say hoarsely with a cough at the end.

There was a silence between the two, one that Jade dwelled in uncomfortably. Beck, realizing this, became less tense and more enthusiastic.

He laughed shortly, "Check out the gift I got you, babe."

Beck grabbed the box that was tucked away underneath the Goth's arm and cracked it open for her to see. Jade is momentarily disturbed from her unconscious state when she saw a silver pendant necklace staring right back up at her. The chain had a small charm at its middle that resembled… wait. Scissors?

Jade glanced at her boyfriend with a nod towards the open velvet box, "This… this is…"

"Yup, a scissor charm." Beck finished for her with a toothless smile, "I wanted it personally handcrafted. When I told the sales lady I wanted a pair of scissors, she looked at me like I was nuts."

He laughed casually before he unhooked the necklace from the box. Placing the box back in his locker, he turned back to Jade, holding out the necklace.

"Here," he said, "Try it on."

Jade seemed to dwell in her disbelief as she robotically moved around so Beck could place the cool, shiny metal chain around her neck. He clasped it from behind and stepped away to admire it with another happy grin of his own.

"It looks just as good as I had expected." He complimented with a relaxed nod.

"You…" Jade blurted before she reached to feel the slim and glittery material that hung from her neck daintily. She then mustered to get out, "You got me… a necklace? I mean, how much did you pay for this?!"

Being caught off-guard by his girlfriend's sudden question , Beck started looking embarrassed.

"Well, I spent most of my savings on it," He blushed as he flashbacked to that particular moment, "Remember last month when I told you I was going to start earning money after school for a couple of weeks at my dad's friend's auto shop? And then you had Cat stalk and monitor me while making her claim and accuse that I was cheating on you? Yeah, well, I was actually fixing cars, Jade. And Cat was a dirty mess that whole day." He reminisced with a far off gaze, "I told her not to chase that butterfly under the car…"

Jade looked half annoyed and half embarrassed at the fact of her being caught again while Beck chuckled at the memory of Cat in her pink all- soiled dress and heels, accusing him of cheating while mechanics' eyeballs popped at her outfit.

"Oh." Jade managed to respond.

"I just wanted to get you something meaningful for today," he said before he rephrased himself again, "Well the day after tomorrow… Valentine's Day."

Jade remained in silence with an unreadable look on her face as Beck misinterprets it to be an unimpressed one. He goes on, trying to redeem his cause.

"I mean Andre even thought it was a good idea when I mentioned it to him." He scratched his hair with a look of confusion, "I just don't get it. I mean, don't you like it? The gift? The card?"

Jade's eyes bounced around their surroundings as she quickly started to look nervous.

"Um, yeah, yeah, I love it! You know what? I gotta go." Jade stammered an excuse as she backed away from Beck, "Girl business, you know…"

Her last sentence goes unheard and Beck shoots her a look of concern. But a group of giggly girls walks up to the couple, obviously paying mind to who they thought was the hotter half.

"Hey Beck!" The girls gushed in unison with a series of giggles at the end.

Beck looked off to the side with a brief look of annoyance before he faces the two blond girls with a quick yet toothless smile.

"Lana, Anna, what's up?" he greeted the two with a curt nod.

Jade unlike her normal woman-beating self, is surprisingly stoic- her expression of shock and confusion still evident across her face. Seeing this, the girls are much bolder, each clasping onto Beck's free arms on both sides.

"We were just wondering about the assignment for, you know, yoga class…" one of the girls explained with a dismissive wave before giving the Indian boy a flirty smile.

"There are no assignments for yoga class." Beck mentioned with a narrowed gaze at the two, "Like ever."

He removed his arms from their grasp. Why were some girls so lecherous? He didn't mind the flirting but dear heaven, there were such things as subtlety.

The other girl pouted obviously missing the warmth of his arm.

"Oh really? We could've sworn there was an assignment… Ooh! Maybe math?" she said, with a hint of question.

"Are you even in my-?" Beck started to ask before releasing a sigh with a hair rake and deciding to cut his sentence short, "Okay, look ladies, now is not a good time. In fact, anytime isn't a good time. I'm talking to my girlfriend over here so if you both don't mind-"

"Oh no, I don't mind!" Jade instantly piped up. Her gaze focused in the distance behind the three as she absentmindedly addressed Beck, "I gotta go anyways…"

The girls both looked astonished at the sound of this. Normally they were used to a good old mice and cat chase all over Hollywood Art's campus. So this response was surprisingly unusual.

Beck gave her a look of concern, "You don't mind? You gotta go?"

Wait what?

Yeah. To… to class." She answered slowly before confidently proclaiming as she brushed on past, "Yeah, class. I'll see you, Beck."

Beck's eyebrows arched as his jaw dropped in disbelief. Was this like actually happening?! Did Jade like literally walk away from he, Beck Oliver? As her figure which was shrouded with dark colors diminished, Beck realized that she was indeed walking away from him.

"Huh? Jade! Wait a second, I'll walk you! Wait, I don't think-!" he called after her retreating figure that had already turned the corner. He added quietly with a false grin at the two girls who eyes him up and down hungrily, "Don't think you should leave me here…darn it."


	3. Chapter 3

_Another agonizing century without an update. I am sorry- or at least I'm trying to be sorry. But hey, look on the bright side... An update! Whoop-de-doo! And I appreciate the reviews I got so far. Thank you. At least I know you're reading my tragic sack of a story. Many thanks and I hope you enjoy._

_Disclaimer: The only thing I own right now is a bloody pink bike. _

No, no, no! Why was this happening?!

The Goth staggered on forward, her usual defiant stare glued to the ground as shock was still evident in her blue eyes. Students that passed by gave her looks of perplexity as if seeing her in this current state was something of another world. And yet, she couldn't blame them for doing so. She hated looking this way. She had to snap out of it.

Jade thought back to the moment in which her usually strong facade had broken down; causing her to look like this in turn.

Sure, she knew that it was bound to happen sometime- but at least _some_ people could prepare her for this. Now, here she was, all overwhelmed and whatnot because Beck decided to go on and-.

"Jade?" A voice interrupted her thoughts with a hint of their own surprise.

A brave person in the mass of curiosity surrounding her finally wanted to inquire about her current state. How lovely. God, she couldn't deal with an idiot right now.

Jade shook her head, dragging herself out of her thoughts as she faced the owner of the voice with an unreadable expression. Her clammy hands clutched tightly onto the note and the chain.

"Sorry, Vega." she muttered. Her eyes looked blankly at the space behind the shoved victim.

The Latina's look of surprise instantly morphed into a look of concern as she mentally noted that the girl that often gloated and glared instantly at the sight of her, was now refusing to give her a passing glance.

"Whoa," Tori murmured as she continued to stare at the pale girl in front of her with both eyebrows furrowed intensely, "Jade, Are you okay?"

Jade quickly gave the younger Vega sister one of her naturally scary glances before she turned away with a clipped tone. Jesus, even Cat would figure out in a damned instant that she was not okay.

"Yeah, sweet. Grand. Marvel." she snapped before clenching her teeth furiously, "Why the curiosity, Vega?"

"You just apologized to me." Tori responded slowly as if to make sense of it herself, "Like the word 'sorry' just came out of your mouth... I... I don't get it."

The jet- black haired girl squinted at her with a frown before she sighed loudly. Her grip on the necklace and the letter became looser just as Tori noticed them in her hands. Was that what she thought it was?

"What's that?" Tori inquired with a curious glance at her hands.

Jade gave her a scowl, "What's what?"

"Those," Tori raised a finger to the items that hung loosely in Jade's hands, " Those in your hands."

Jade released another deep sigh as she blinked her eyes repeatedly and looked down at the objects in her hands. What were they, seriously?! Why did she even have them?

"Oh this?" she pretended to be nonchalant about it, "Just a gift."

Almost instinctively, she opened up and raised her palms to let the songstress take a better look at the pendant and the note. Tori's eyes widened instantly at the sight of them.

"From who? Does- does Beck know?" she asked with a hushed tone. God, this was trouble. Now Jade had some random Valentine from some random- could it be- Andre? He did said he didn't like Jade anymore and Tori had to take his word for it. But she couldn't help but feel-?

Her eyes grew wider as Jade gave her an annoyed look.

"Does Beck know?!" Jade mimicked Tori's voice with a country twang before she resumed speaking in her normal tone of voice with a hiss, "Of course Beck knows, Mary- fucking- Lou! He gave me the damned thing!"

With an single eye roll, she looked off to the side physically dismissing Tori's presence.

"Well, sorry!" Tori tried to explain, "With your facial expression looking like that, I almost thought that someone else gave those to you."

Pausing with a faraway glance, Tori's lips curved slightly upwards. It was just Beck. So Andre hasn't given anyone a gift so far. That was a relief. Wait- what? Why was it such a relief? Why did her heart feel like it it had just broke and that someone had just dug their hand inside and placed it all together again in that one second of a moment?

As she nearly let out a breath of relief, Jade shot her an inquiring look.

What the hell's up with Vega?

Her gaze on Tori lingered a bit longer than usual, causing the brunette to nervously smile.

"I mean, not bad Beck, not bad at all..." she quickly said in recovery before letting out a whistle of approval.

Jade's gaze turned into a glare as her eyes narrowed into slits, both zoning in on Tori.

"Quit whistling like an illiterate lumberjack!" Jade ordered with an obvious look of disgust, "First it's Cat, now Pollyanna. Life is so annoying."

Letting out her millionth sigh, Jade frowned again to herself.

Life was really annoying. Now, what was she going to do? How the hell could she even face him? Oh, God, of all the terrifying things that had to happen, that was first? Cruel.

Tori clamped her lips tight and cocked her head to the side as she observed the sudden change in the pale girl's reaction. What was up with Jade? I mean, Beck got her a gift, so shouldn't she be- happy?

"I'm confused." Tori couldn't keep herself from saying, "Uh, what's the problem here?"

Jade glared at her, "Your voice. Duh. Thought that message was clear the last time I said it. Shut the hell up."

The Latina pouted, "No, no, no. I mean what's with that frown and your constant sighs? Gifts from Beck should equal a happy Jade." she paused as she gave the Goth girl a once over, "But you're a Jade I've never seen before. You're neither mad or … happy- mean?"

What and where was this freak show of a perfectionist trying to get at?

Jade's nose scrunched as she shot the bubbly girl an undecipherable glance.

"Okay, weirdo," she hesitated before she willed herself to go on, "Truth is, Beck and I don't do gifts. You know that better than I do. But now all of a sudden, I have this damn locket and this- this damn Shakespearean letter in my hands!"

Aw, Jade was flustered by the sentiment. That was so sweet...

"Aw!" Tori gushed making various duck faces clearly not noticing Jade's current state of pure panic, "That's so romantic!"

"No it's not romantic!" Jade promptly interrupted the girl across from her, "It's scary! No terrifying! In fact, I don't even want this stupid gift!"

In one swift motion, Jade shoved both items deep into her black bag that hung off her shoulders as if it were a bomb that was about to explode. Once she had put them away, she started to breath heavily.

Tori's face fell at the sight of this.

It was always the people that didn't appreciate things that always got things. Where was her boyfriend? Or her Valentine for that matter? Unlike Jade who seemed to have both, Tori would indefinitely appreciate them if she were given such.

"Look, don't get me wrong, " Jade tried to explain as she clasped onto the handles of her bag with both hands intertwined together, "I appreciate Beck's sentiment but I just don't-"

Wait. Why was she trying to explain herself? And to Vega out of all people?! It wasn't any of her damned business anyways! Plus, what was she even trying to explain? She had no idea why this particular gift- giving irked her so much.  
She dismissed the conversation away with a simple wave of her hand.

"Never mind," she said before she looked around at her nearby surroundings. Wasn't Vega just with Harris?

"Where's Harris? He was just with you."

Tori felt her spirits dampen with the mention of Andre. Who had ditched her.

"He met up with Robbie."she said flatly.

Ah. That was much better. Jade smirked at Tori's sudden depression. It always seemed to make her feel better when Tori was pissed off.

"Uh-oh," she taunted as Tori looked at the tip of her brown cowboy- knee high boots, " Is there trouble in the paradise of the hugging hugsters? Has your huggable lover gone astray?"

Jade snorted as the Latina let out more than a couple of scoffs.

She stammered profusely, "W-What?! Andre's not my- my- l-lover!"

Leave it to Vega to brighten her day.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, Chirpy." Jade chortled, "So Harris dumped you to hang with Geekums? That's cold."

Tori made a straight face, "You really ought to think about being nicer. It wouldn't hurt."

"Yeah, right and that's definitely not happening, Mrs. Harris." Jade shot back with an identical look before she snickered uncontrollably.  
Tori frowned and stared back down at her boots. Even Jade thought the idea of her and Andre was laughable. Wait, of course it was laughable! Andre was this great, cool musician who could have girls swoon with one single note and she... was just Tori. The idea of Andre liking someone like her was funny. Hell, she could hardly get mad at Jade. It was funny. But then why wasn't she laughing? Lately she couldn't understand her feelings...did she-? No. She couldn't have.

Jade noticed the sad look Tori bore across her face and stopped laughing altogether.

God. Now she just felt like a real bitch.

"Let's take a walk, Vega." she said abruptly, all traces of teasing gone from her eyes.

Tori looked up, confused with Jade's sudden change of attitude, "O-okay?"

The Goth gave her a deadpanned look before she rolled her eyes and shoved past the surprised yet motionless brunette.

"Are you coming or what?" she called behind her back, causing Tori to awaken from her momentary stage of paralysis. She ran after strolling Jade before she finally caught up to her. The two walked together, in surprisingly comfortable silence.

"So what are you going to get Beck?" Tori asked curiously, interrupting the dead- long silence between them. She held her purple binder to her chest as if it were her armor defending her from the never-ending wrath that came in the form of a pale yet beautiful girl. So it was a surprise when, one, Jade actually addressed her back and two, didn't even give her a look.

"Honestly, I have no damn clue." Jade responded, her eyes trained on the path in front of them. She was exasperated with the idea of giving someone a gift, and much more with giving a gift to her own boyfriend.

"Not surprised to hear that." Tori rolled her eyes to herself as she remembered the last gift the Canadian teen got from his girlfriend on his birthday. A bag of half- eaten potato chips.

Jade's head swiveled Tori's way. Why was Tori making this all about her?

"Well what are you getting Andre then, Miss America?" she retorted as her pace became quicker.

At the sound of Andre again, Tori paused, motionless once again. It seems that hearing Andre's name or his voice had this effect on her. Why?! She shook her head as if to bring herself back to reality. She had to stop thinking about her best friend before she went absolutely crazy!

"What?" Tori managed to blurt out with a defensive edge, "What are you talking about?! Why would I get Andre a gift?!"

"Cause you're always drooling like a rabid pit-bull whenever I or anyone else for that matter merely mentions his name." Jade answered simply as if she was asked if whether the sky was blue. She turned around the hallway's corner and continued walking in another direction. Tori was close behind but paused walking as soon as the words had left Jade's mouth.

She shot the Goth girl's back a glare, "Why are you so mean?!"

"Why are you such a pussy? Why can't you take a joke?" Jade asked with an interrogating tone before she paused and glowered at the skinny girl in front of her with a point, "This is exactly why you and Harris are ending up nowhere- You, Tori Vega are scared."

Tori felt her throat almost close up as she instinctively clenched her fists tight. She dropped them to her sides as she gave Jade a defiant stare. Why was she letting Jade get to her?

"Scared?! I am not scared! I just don't like him like that!" she retorted in defense, nearly inches away from the other girl's face.

Jade's lips tightened into a scowl as she took her pointer finger and pressed it against Tori's forehead. With a single move of her joint, she pushed the Latina's face away from hers.

"Yeah and how many times have I heard that 'oh- so- legendary' line?" The Goth derided with a sideways glance over her shoulder, "Just fess up already, Vega. You like the guy. What's so wrong about admitting so?"

A moment of silence emitted between the two as the darker- haired brunette crossed her arms across her chest and gave the other brunette a authoritative yet keen look.

Tori sighed before she half- confessed, "Okay, so maybe... I like him a little."

The pale girl's frown nearly turned upside down into her usual mean smirk and she nearly opened her mouth to make a smart comment about Tori's guilt- induced confession. But Tori completely cut her off before she could even get a word in edgewise. She wasn't comfortable with the fact that out of everyone in the whole damn world, Jade was the only she had the guts to share her feelings with. The girl who is in love with her bloody scissors, for crying out loud!

"Not in the way you're thinking!" Tori rambled off from the tip of her tongue, "So don't you go around saying anything. Next thing you know, it'll get to the point where my relationship with him will become weird and strained."

"You two have a relationship, eh." Jade simply stated as the corners of her lips turned everywhere. Thank you, Vega for being the best punching bag in the world.

Tori groaned.

That's all Jade got from everything she had just said?

"You know what I mean Jade..." Tori mumbled as she gave Jade a nasty glare.

"God, you're so uptight," Jade commented with a roll of her eyes, "Let out a few_ ha-ha-ha's_ like Cat's in your life."

"You're talking to me about laughing." The Latina stated plainly as she cocked an eyebrow at the girl in front of her.

"Yup." Jade responded before twirling in the opposite direction and resuming her walk. She called behind her shoulder loudly, "So, Tori, what are you getting Andre?"

Tori paused momentarily behind her to narrow her gaze at the back of the brunette's green streaked hair.  
Sure why not, just go on and tell the world, Jade. It's not like she cares about how others feel so why would she ever start to now?

"What are you getting Beck?" Tori asked in the same loud tone of voice, "It'll be real hard to beat a 14 carat chain, wouldn't it?"  
People around them started to stare at the scene between the two while Jade spun around with a fiery glare in her eyes. Really, Tori, gee. How about just tell others straight up that she sucks at giving gifts and Little Miss Perfect here is well experienced with it instead?

"I asked you first." she finally said slowly, her voice dripping with venom.

"Nope. I asked you first..." Tori responded with a sing-song tease of her voice.

Jade shouldn't get to her. Right. She shouldn't let Jade get to her.

"Darn, you are right," Jade started to say with a frown, causing the singer to shoot her another beam of satisfaction. Then Jade suddenly smirked herself before she finished, "Well it's a pure shame that I don't give two flying shits' about that, right? Start talking, Goody- Two-Shoes."

They both continued walking as Tori bit down on her bottom lip. What could be the harm? Maybe if she talks to someone besides the obvious source; her feelings may become a little bit more clearer to her. For now, she was uncertain and unsure about them.

"Well," Tori begun with a deep breath, "I never really thought about giving him a gift."

Jade gave her a deadpanned look. What the hell was she talking about? She was sure that giving a gift to Andre would be on top of Vega's Valentine's Day list even if he wasn't her boyfriend and yet it's not?

"What?"

"I just think that it may be a little bit weird that's all," Tori tried to explain her reasoning, "I mean, he's just my friend and I don't know, it's just a bit too weird."

Jade's look of confusion at Tori's sudden confession seemed to be permanently stuck across her face.

"You're already weird, Vega." she stated as if it were a biblical known fact.

Taking the comment offensively, Tori frowned and gave Jade another look.

"I mean, Sensitive and Sensitivity, what better way is there to confess your feelings than during this ridiculous season of flying arrows and babies with diapers and wings?" she explained her suggestion before she paused with a look of disgust, "God we are some pedophiles in this world. Babies in diapers?! That's how we celebrate Valentine's Day?! Ugh!"

"I guess you are sort of right." Tori murmured as she glanced off into the distance in deep thought.

Jade did have a point. Maybe she did like Andre. And what if he felt the same way? And if he didn't, Valentine's Day would still be the perfect opportunity to confess, where everybody could be a secret admirer. She could just say the festive holiday just got to her if he rejected her. It was perfect.

"Course I'm right. We are some nasty motherfuckers." Jade said to herself with a shake of her head, "Pity."

"You know what?" Tori suddenly interrupted with a new surge of confidence, "I'll do it."

Jade slapped slowly but surely, her head shaking from side to side with false expression of disbelief and happiness, "Yes! Finally, Vega makes an accomplishment in her sorry- assed life!"

But what if he said no? What if he started to look at her weird? What if... he never gave her those oh-so- wonderful bear hugs again? What if he said he couldn't be her friend anymore and she started to see him less and less as time passes by?!

Tori's smile was frozen for a while until she said through it, "I can't do it."

"God! What the hell is wrong with you Vega?!" Jade scowled at Tori's indecisiveness, "If you don't confess, I swear to all things holy, I will for you- no even better- I'll sic one of those vapid dogs that call themselves girls onto him! You wouldn't want to see him walking around with one of those bubble-heads do you?!"

It would hurt to see her best friend with another girl if Tori had to be truthfully honest with herself. But... she just... couldn't. Not right now anyway. Soon, but not right this moment.

Tori cringed at the Goth's threat, "Fine, fine! I get your point!"

"Oh Vega." Jade looked upwards and addressed the ceiling, "I can't talk to you anymore. You make me feel like poop when I talk to you."

"Can't you ever say anything nice?" Tori moaned.

"Nope. I'd rather keep it real." Jade answered with a look of nonchalance that she shot Tori's way before she mentioned with a matter- of fact tone, "We're going the wrong way."

Tori's eyebrows furrowed as she made a small pout.

"No we aren't," she tried to explain to the Goth, "My next class is right there."

She pointed at the door which Jade deliberately ignored purposefully.

"Oh really?" Jade feigned interest.

"Um yes?"

"Yeah and I don't give two raspberries!" Jade mimicked with a high pitched voice before her voice went back to normal, "You're walking me to class and oh, make sure that handsome devil remains no where to be found."

Tori raised her eyebrows at this sudden order and with Jade's quick grab of her wrist, she was now dragged towards the opposite direction.

"Handsome wh-?"

Before Tori could even finish formulating her question, both she and Jade collided into the fronts of two familiar students.


	4. Chapter 4

_Okay, so I'm dragging the story out. I can't really help it, unfortunately. The way my drafts turned out and all... *bluhh*. Buckle up, it's a long, long road ahead of us. _

_Also I've garnered quite a few reviews. Appreciated. Mucho appreciated. Thanks to each and everyone of you guys for giving your support and positive opinions- and ooh- la- la, the compliments! * faints of happiness*_

_I apologize for stringing you guys along and not updating sooner. * __hacks a cough* Moving along..._

_**Disclaimer:** I wish I didn't have to disclaim anything sometimes... I should own the whole entire world. Things would be so different. *sigh*_

Chapter Four

"Walk faster! Walk faster!" Robbie Shapiro urged the musician on his right, with a light but firm push of the back. God, if this guy next to him didn't walk any faster, there was a good chance that Trina would soon catch up with them. He really couldn't stand another hair tug from her or no, even worse, one of her legendary kicks. Those were crazily unbearable to the point of no return.

Andre Harris bore an expression that plainly read of annoyance as he turned to address the slightly taller and lankier teen.

"Do we really have to go around the entire school just to get to Dance class?" he groaned in question with occasional deep breaths in between almost every word he had said. The guy had him running all over the goddamned school as if he were practicing as an anchor leg for the Olympics!

Robbie's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he glared at his friend. Was Andre really serious?

"Did you not see the girl's eyes or did you not see them?!" Robbie was hysterical at this point, "She's crazy, mate- No, she's beyond crazy!"

It was if Andre had wanted him to die! Did he not get it or what? Trina and Robbie. Trina find Robbie. Trina smash Robbie. Robbie corpse. It was that simple!

With a shake of his head, Robbie turned the hallway's sharp corner with Andre close at his back. Just the sight of moving shades of black before him was enough to make the pale boy jump. Fortunately, he didn't get sucked into the black but rather jumped back in sync with his friend on his right.

Andre soon noted that the shades of black were merely an attire- based wear for one of the two that stood before them. The other had the recognizable dark blue denim jeans and a girly purple top that Andre knew in the matter of a millisecond. Even though Andre had realized the two in front of him in a short span of time, it took a bit longer for the bespectacled boy to realize who they were for himself.

"Eek!" A girly scream erupted from one of the collision's four victims- more specifically, the tallest victim- who had nearly jumped right into his friend's toned arms before he finally recognized the two, "You scared me!"

A equally terrified but more composed Tori Vega and a scowling Jade West stood before the two teenage boys, both- like Robbie- scared out of their wits. Jade's fingers had dug deep into Tori's flesh as her forearms remained encircled around Tori's stomach. Her head also rested comfortably on the shoulder of the half- Puerto Rican girl, whose arms had wrapped instantaneously around Jade's neck.

With a cough, Jade removed her hands from Tori's waist and pushed the girl away from her nearly knocking over Tori in the process. She did a quick hair toss and her usual mean smirk finally found it's way across her face as she placed a hand on her hip.

"The man with a puppet says funnily enough." Jade shot back before her smirk focused on the curly haired boy who stood diagonal from her.

The puppet's mouth started to move right away after much to everybody's dismay.

"You know you love me baby-" Rex started to say with his usual flirty deep and baritone tone that he always had reserved specially for Jade- or any other female for that matter.

"And I'll love the day where you diminish into nothing but wax, baby." Jade responded with a glare shot in the puppeteer's direction. Number 2 on the list of 'Annoying People to Annoy'. He was number one before but teeny- bopper, Tori Vega just had to make way into her web of comfort. Oh the joy of life.

"You wouldn't dare!" Robbie looked horrified as he held the puppet tightly as if he were a 5-year old child with a teddy bear.

Jade was such a sadist. She flat- out enjoyed toying with his emotions. The only way to get back to her was with his puppet but sometimes, things don't always go as planned. Partially since he's always more on the desperate side and has been single ever since the day he was born. Heck he couldn't deny it. Her sadism seemed more appealing than scary after a while- considering she's one of the only few females he has ever interacted with in his humane life. Hold the bloody phone. Jade West? Appealing?! God, what the hell was he thinking?! Cat needed to accept his love now before he'd go start thinking crazy.

"Oh you are so right, Shapiro," Jade mocked with a pause. She ran her tongue across the ends of her top row of teeth before she continued, "I should be the one to do it..."

"You are the very spawn of hell itself, " Rex commented before adding on suggestively, "Be my queen."

Both Andre and Tori looked freaked out as Robbie held Rex protectively across his chest as Jade pulled out one of her favorite pair of scissors and twirled them around her fingers with an expectant look.

Andre interrupted the weird dynamic between the two with a raise of his hands.

"Yeah, um, I hate to interrupt this... this... whatever this is," he paused as he flew his fingers from the the two contenders, the plastic and the flesh, " But yeah, me and Robbie has to dash. Apparently, the rumor is, Trina has more than two pairs of stilettos on hand which is very bad news for the Robster here."

"Bad news for me?! It's bad news for everyone!" Robbie cried as Jade rolled her eyes at his sudden theatrics as she placed her scissors back into her bag, "She's just going to kill me first, that's all!"

"That's a beautiful biography," Jade said as if to end that particular conversation as she started on a new approach with a sly smirk, "So, _Tori, _isn't there, you know, _something_ that you want to tell our good friend, Andre here?"

Andre's eyebrows raised at the sound of his name.

Huh?

"Really? There is?" Andre looked astonished at the sound of this.

There was something going on with Tori that Jade- out of all the people in the world actually knew about? This was surprising. Andre was intrigued. What could it possibly be?

Tori gave Jade a stone- set look, "No there isn't."

Why did she think that she could ever trust Jade of all people?! God, she was stupid for not being rational and being emotional instead around the dark- clad girl.

"Are you really sure there isn't... something just... _fluttering..._ in your mind?" Jade pressed on with a teasing edge as one corner of her lips curved upwards as her arms instinctively crossed. She simply watched as Tori squirmed. God, this was such fun. She should've done this a long time ago.

Andre looked concerned as he watched his best friend shoot the Goth a frown. What was it? Was it something bad? Is there something wrong with Tori?

"Yes. I'm positive." Tori responded through clenched teeth as her glare remained dead-set on Jade's sadistic grin.

Maybe she wasn't ready to tell him what it was. Or maybe it was girl issues. Oh God, she had better keep it to herself if its about some dumb jock she's crushing on.

But before he could say anything of assurance, a loud yet an incorrect echo of both his and Robbie's names thundered out.

"Rowan! Andrew! I know you two are hiding from me!"

"Oh God, it's her! It's her!" Robbie took grab of Andre's arm, jumping inconsistently and impatiently, "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

Andre looked around his surroundings for the source of this sudden noise but didn't see the shoe fanatic anywhere. He tried to calm Robbie down with a pat of his friend's shoulder before he turned to face Tori with a soft smile.

"Hey, if there is something you really do need to tell me, you can tell me at Sikowitz's," he assured her, "I know how Jade can be."

Jade scowled but remained silent as a smile crept upon the Latina's lips when she met his gaze.

Tori was touched. He was actually genuinely concerned about her. She couldn't help but flash a bigger smile the musician's way.

"It's alright. It's nothing." Tori answered as Jade rolled her eyes towards the heavens with a loud scoff.

"Kill me, now." The Goth muttered with a cross of her arms.

"Okay then, you know where to holler if there is a problem..." he started to say until Robbie interrupted and inserted himself between the two.

"Yeah, okay, awesome sauce, we're leaving." Robbie simply said as he paused the obvious mushy- gushy attitude that was about to ensue from the two clueless best friends.

"See you later, beauties." Rex flirtatiously said before Robbie tucked the puppet under his arm with a straight look on his face.

He then grabbed Andre by his short shirt sleeve and dragged him off into the direction they originally came from.

The two then walked-no, rather, crept- in silence- if you would count Robbie's mumbles and gnashing of his teeth silent.

As they "crept", Andre thought back to the scene that happened between Jade and Tori.

There had to be something up. Jade would purposefully lie and make up things at times, sure. But Tori's face after Jade had slyly asked her about it... something was wrong. He knew she said nothing was up but he couldn't help but feel that _something_ was really up.

Without realizing, the musician's head dragged along the lockers on his left, causing Robbie on his right to notice his sudden change in state. What the heck was up with Andre?

"Hey, are you okay, man?" The taller boy asked with a look of concern, "You've been dragging your head against those lockers for a while now..."

And as if to illustrate his point, Robbie nodded his head at Andre's current state. Andre paused and his eyes grew wide open with realization as he tried to move forward but felt held back. He looked over to where his head laid and noticed a few of his dreads tangled up on several seashells that were splattered across a specific locker. Instinctively, his hands reached up and untangled the braids for a hot minute before they were free. Coughing as if to make the last few minutes go away, he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, man." he finally responded, "I'm good."

Maybe he should try to take all the attention away from him. God only knows who the boy would tell about that incident.

You know what? He was actually curious about how things went with Cat. Robbie did say he had a new idea on how to get with her. Probably it's those letters that got stuck in the psycho's locker. And the very reason why he's being chased down now.

The two resumed walking again before Andre suddenly turned to address his friend.

"So... what are these letters I'm hearing about?" A curious Andre asked.

"What letters?" Robbie feigned ignorance. His friend shot him a meaningful look.

"Oh, for Cat you mean..." Robbie finally said hesitantly, a bit uncomfortable with Andre's sudden interest. Now he just felt like he was being put directly on the spot. Why did Andre suddenly want to know?

Andre raised his eyebrows as if to urge him on a little. It wasn't like he was going to tell the rest of the world. Maybe Robbie would feel a bit better releasing a little bit off his back. Plus, he wanted to help the Jewish boy the best that he could. He has been watching him mope and pine over Cat for so long that now he felt he should actually help the guy do something about it.

Robbie's bottom lip squirmed, everything threatening to spill down out of his mouth. Well, what could be the harm in telling one of his best friends? That's what they were there for.

Robbie looked a bit nervous as he adjusted the collar of his pink Ralph Lauren dress shirt.

"Well, you know, I want to confess to her," he explained before he took a shaky deep breath and glanced down at his moving black and white Converse high-tops, "I tried talking to her many times but it just doesn't go well."

Andre's eyebrows narrowed at hearing this before he stared ahead. He picked out his next words with a slight wince.

"Have you ever tried saying it... I don't know... like direct to Lil' Red?" Andre asked, truthfully concerned.

"Well I told her, I said," Robbie started to explain before he paused and looked off into a vast space with a distant gaze and a dramatic lift of his palm while the other laid across his heart, "_Cat... I esteem you highly..." _he then dropped his hands to his sides with a goofy faraway grin, "Yup. That's what I said to her."

If he really wanted to, Andre could -no he just should- slap the back of his idiotic best friend's head. Was he really that slow?!

He made a face, "Dude! What the hell does that mean?! I mean, I know what that means but hello?! Do you not know Cat?!"

Robbie was taken aback by Andre's sudden questions as he whipped his head back towards the musician's direction.

Of course he knew the bloody girl! He knew her favorite color and her favorite food and her favorite animal and the way her one dimple popped up before the other when she smiled. He knew everything there was possible to know about the upbeat girl. And it was painfully unbearable.

"I've always told Cat that I loved her!" Robbie blurted out with a pout as he stopped dragging his sneakers across the hallway's tiles with a loud yet cringe- worthy squeak, "She's always running away from me!"

Andre's jaw dropped, the first part of Robbie's confession ringing loud and true in his head.

"Whoa... Dude... you love her?"

Robbie's shoulder's slumped with immediate dejection.

"Yup," he finally said after a few sighs with a forlorn look.

Why was it that Andre only heard that part?

"O-okay... well that's a whole another story... that's a little hard to..." Andre managed to comment with a cough as he squinted at his colorful high-top sneakers as if there was a spot on it he wanted to see clearer. But he was just in awe. He understood that Robbie had a crush on Lil' Red for an eternity now. Yet, Robbie was Robbie. The guy had always wanted a girlfriend. Heck, at given moments, homeboy would even flirt with Tori- not that he was threatened. He knew his friend had always liked Cat. But when in hell did that ever turn into love? Consider mind completely blown.

Robbie noticed his best friend's furrowed brow knitted with a hint of confusion and awe. Great.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right," the Jewish boy rambled off as if he could read the astonished singer's mind, "Newsflash: Geeky Rob Shapiro's in love with the beautiful Caterina Valentine... Go on. Go on and laugh."

The unruly- haired boy hung his head down almost in shame as if he had expected Andre to give him and amused, evil laugh like Rex would have. But when he finally had the guts to meet the gaze of his friend, he was surprised to see that there were no tracings of ridicule or teasing. Instead, a look of understanding met his frantic and embarrassed one.

"Why would I laugh?" Andre finally asked casually before he gazed off to the opposite side with a mumble, "I know exactly how you feel."

Robbie paused, searching through his brain for a few seconds as he tried to figure out how exactly the buff, talented musician could ever know how he- a lanky, awkward, girly teen felt. Soon a name appeared in his mind and everything just clicked naturally.

"Oh yeah... with Tori..." he murmured with a stroke of his chin.

Andre's eyes darted back towards Robbie's direction instantly.

Almost instinctively as if he were protecting a secret treasure, he promptly asked, "With Tori what?"

Robbie knew about Tori? How could he possibly know? Andre barely even told Beck his feelings about the slim brunette so how could Mr. Sanitary himself know?

Robbie cocked an dark eyebrow before he rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, man! You obviously like Tori a lot! Ever since you broke up with Hope, you haven't dated anyone else in like forever! Even before Hope and Sherry, you were always making plans with Tori- and hey, by the way, I am hurt that you've missed out on guys night three times in a row to- and I quote- 'Drink cocoa at Tori's'." He continued with a pointed look, "Dude, who the hell sits around all day _just_ drinking cocoa with the opposite sex?"

"Well,um, I'm sorry about uh, guys night- whatever that shizz is," Andre apologized with a bit of uncertainty. He then added with a defiant cross of his arms, "But, I hang out with Tori a lot because she's my best friend. I'm pretty sure she feels no other kind of way towards me."

"How would you know?" Robbie sing-songed before he cocked his head to the side as he shot his friend a suggestive grin, "You'd never know until you actually try."

"Dude, I'm not you. I'm not all-" Andre cut himself short and made room between Robbie and himself before he belted out with outstretched hands and a quick bend of his knee, the chorus of Frank Sinatra's '_ I Love You, Baby'_. At the end, he rose and dusted his pants off as if the moment actually didn't happen.

"I could never confess." He finally said quietly.

With a resolved sigh and a dejected bow of his head the singer walked on forward as Robbie noticed girls all around them swooned. His jaw dropped as he watched Andre's departing back. Uh, hello?! Was he not seeing this or was he just simply ignoring this?! Heck, Robbie would give his life for one second of that happening to him! But Andre and Beck, never really even noticed the attention they were given with every single movement they made. Well Andre's case wasn't too extreme as Beck's but he does get tons of attention.

"Well I'm not that way either!" Robbie shot back half thinking about popularity as he ran to catch up with the famous Hollywood Art's musician.

Andre gave the taller boy a classic deadpanned glare.

"Really, Robbie? Really now?" he asked before he reminded Robbie with a grimace, "Who is the person who keeps breaking into 'Broken Glass' randomly at any given moment? You even sang it in a museum during our school trip."

Don't even remind him of the time where Robbie embarrassed everyone during the school trip to the museum. The sign boldly and clearly said 'Do Not Talk'. And the kid thought it would be better to sing. At least Jade kicked his ass...

"It's catchy!" Robbie defended himself before he shrugged, "You're gonna hold that against me?"

"Well it's a really terrible song." Andre mentioned before he made a nasty face and gave a mocking shrug of his own before he turned the corner.

Robbie groaned in annoyance as he followed behind, "Oh, come on! You're like the greatest singer and the greatest songwriter ever! You always perform in front of hundreds! So what's the big deal about simply telling Tori three little words?"

The big deal? Oh how about three other little words? Uh... Rejection? Embarrassment? Humiliation?

Singing was different. He was okay with singing in front of others. His family had always said that was his biggest strength. He had been singing ever since he was young and it was something that he eventually grew comfortable with. Even writing his feelings in song was easy and comfortable. His feelings would be out there but carefully hidden in a song. But talking with words? To someone he liked? Straight-forward? He would be speaking pure gibberish and Tori wouldn't understand or get a single word. It was fine the way it was. Them as best friends. Why was Robbie pressuring him to change?

Andre ran a hand through his braids with an exasperated sigh, "Oh for the love of Shizz! Just forget it, Robbie! The point is, Tori is _not_ interested. _Tu' capisci_?"

"Yeah, I'm going to go with a strong maybe," Robbie started to say before something ahead of them caught his eye, "But how would you feel about someone else...?"

"What?" Andre narrowed his eyebrow and grimaced, "Ew. God, are you hitting on me?"

"God, no! For the last time, I'm not gay! Why don't you ever believe me?!" The taller boy frowned with a cross of his arms before he nodded his head forward to the scene in front of them, "I mean, that girl, Hilary Swiss is checking you out."

Hilary Swiss? Hilary Swiss? Yeah right and he lives on the goddamned moon. There was no way that the blond, tall, and beautiful head cheerleader was checking him out. The last time that Andre asked her out, she wasn't interested- well it seemed like she wasn't – apparently, she had "plans". Way to bring up false hopes again, Robbie.

Andre gave his best friend a knowing glare before he rolled his eyes, "Dude, you need some new prescriptions and shizz, there is no way in hell that-"

She was checking him out?! No wait, She _was_ checking him out!

His statement was unfinished yet gone from his lips as from afar off, his eyes had moved over the group of cheerleaders' in their short uniforms that flocked the main steps. His eyes instantly met with blue ones that seemed to mischievously smile at him, matching the upward curve of her slightly red lips. They lit up even more as she blinded him with a flashy smile.

He had quickly looked away yet he felt her stare eye him up and down slowly as if he were a deer and she, a bloody carnivore.

Oh mi dios. He didn't even have to look for him to know. Robbie surely wasn't lying. She was really checking him out. Hilary Swiss, a cheerleader was checking, he, Andre Harris, out. Since when did she check guys like him out? They were always hung around those lacrosse players and he knew they were never interested. Artsy and rebellious guys weren't their type at all. He and Beck had learned that the hard way. Most of the time, they hung around other types of guys, like he and Beck, to get back at their slow athlete of a boyfriend that felt football was more important than their relationships. Then they would regret,both he and Beck would get knocked out, and then the chicks would leave and go back to them. But still...

"Oh my God, I'm being checked out!" Andre blurted out with a hint of hyperventilation and a crazed roll of his eyes from side to side, "By Hilary of all people, God, this is weird, I haven't been noticed since, since, since-"

"Since you started hanging out with Tori." The bespectacled boy finished off for him with a knowing raise of his eyebrows . He let out a small air of breath as he glanced off to the side with a matter- of- fact grin, "Everyone basically thinks that you two are dating- You guys are always together and are always ultra- close."

Andre spun around to shoot the lanky teen a look of disbelief, "What?! Since when did everyone think this way?!"

"Well, ever since she came to Hollywood Arts." Robbie responded almost unsure with another stroke of his chin, "But then there was that thing with Beck for a hot second, but that eventually smoothed itself out..."

"Of course it _smoothed_ itself out!" Andre retorted, "Beck's with Jade!"

Robbie raised his hands defensively across his chest as his friend shot him another one of his glares before he suddenly got lost in thought.

"People think that Tori and I are together?" he asked himself out loud. Why would they think that? They never did anything that would make them seem "couple- like" like Jade and Beck. They didn't get angry and argue with each other- okay so, he and Tori probably argued once in a blue moon, fine. But they didn't make out- yup, they had never, ever made out. Pfft. They never even kissed. There was that almost kiss that never happened since- tada, she pushed him away and double tada, he was kissing her since she looked like Jade. God that was a weird time. Maybe at that time all he wanted to do was kiss his best friend and didn't even bother to realize it. Why the hell did he not go for it at the time? Wait. Maybe it's not too late. The problem with everyone knowing his esteem for her was solved. All he had to do was win over Tori herself.

Robbie pursed his lips into a pout as he looked over at his dumbstruck friend, "Lucky. I wish people thought Cat and I were together..."

"This may be easy after all..." Andre suddenly announced, interrupting Robbie's pitiful wishes.

"What?" Robbie asked, taken aback with Andre's sudden proclamation.

Andre rolled his eyes at the curly- haired boy and tugged him forwards with a pull of his arm.

"Nothing. Come on you big overgrown toddler. Let's go."

X

"Well, isn't that interesting..." The obvious hint of mischief in the tone made Tori groan almost instinctively. Sighing, she internally debated whether to humor the girl on her side or not. Tori finally did face the girl in the worn yet tight leather jacket who had stopped walking with a large smirk smacked on her face.

"What now?" she asked as she gave her a look mixed with exasperation yet question. Did she even really want to know what went through the mind of the one and only, Jade West? It was too late anyways. She had asked and dug her grave with those simple two words.

Jade still didn't meet Tori's gaze, as her lips curved even more upwards . Her thin, well- arched eyebrows raised expressively yet almost evilly as if she were in the middle of concocting the world's eventual demise. Her scary smile however didn't focus on Tori, yet it remained straight on the group of various people moving behind them.

"This may change things..." she finally murmured softly, but purposefully loud enough for Tori to hear. Her gaze remained on the view behind her before Jade suddenly let out a chuckle. Oh there was no way in hell that she was keeping such good news to herself. She was going to share it. And to the very person standing in front of her. Oh, joy!

The aforementioned looked so annoyed with Jade's immediate secrecy that she asked again with a clipped tone, "For the love of God, what?!"

Jade finally took a quick glance at Tori with a look of boredom. Her expressionless blue eyes bored into Tori's mocha- brown ones.

"Oh nothing... just that it seems that the Muscles has attracted some former attention again." Jade said as if she were bored with the very idea of them conversing but her dancing eyes and her solidified smirk told Tori something else totally different. Jade tapped her tongue against the roof of her mouth, making a resounding clock as her eyes grew wider. Yet, she continued to stare at Tori with another occasional raise of her eyebrows.

Tori immediately turned at the sound of "Muscles".

She already knew. She didn't even bother to hear the rest of the tale. No doubt, Jade was talking about a seemingly flabbergasted Andre who looked as if he was hyperventilating so much that he could collapse at any given second. Even though her self- conscious rang signals in her mind and telling her that something was up, Tori just merely shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, truly unaware, "It's just Andre and Robbie talking."

The previous evil grin spread across the Goth girl's face within a matter of seconds. A glint appeared in her eyes before she nudged her head back towards the boys' direction.

"There's a whole lot more than just Andre and Robbie." she quickly corrected with a hint of sass, "Look above and beyond, Vega."

Above and beyond? Jade was probably intentionally making fun of her infatuation with Andre. Why, oh, why did she open up her big mouth for? Well, she might as well just play along. Jade would have her neck if she didn't anytime soon.

Tori's eyes narrowed curiously as she turned back around and looked past her guy friends. Then with a final raise of her head, she quickly noticed a group of girls giggling and staring in her friends' direction- more specifically- Andre's way on the main hallways' steps.

She begun to tense up at the sight of this and quickly gives the group the "one-over". God. Your typical yellow, blue, and white wearing cheerleaders. Her grip on her plastic purple binder tightened. Skimpy bimbos.

Jade widened her eyes as she gave the girl on her side a sideways glance. The pale girl nearly cracked up. Whoa. Tori was totally pissed off now.

"Well, well, well," Jade murmured as she slid on over to where the younger Vega stood on her left. She placed a hand comfortably on top of Tori's shoulder blade with a cocked eyebrow, "Is this..." she paused for effect, "...jealousy, I'm seeing here, Vega?"

The singer nearly scoffed. What? Was Jade trying to imply that she, Tori Vega was jealous? Of what? Her best friend possibly finding happiness? No. No way, she could be cool with that. No, correction. She was cool with that, period.

Tori let out a laugh that bordered 100% exasperation before she rapidly replied, "Jealousy? What? Pfft! Not a chance!"

Jade's face dropped. Really Vega? Now she was going to stand here and play it safe? Deny it?

"Dude, we just covered this," Jade tried to remind the girl as she squinted at her, "You just confessed to me minutes ago, hello? Are you like mentally stupid, Vega? Is it a condition? May I recommend a goddamned psychiatric ward?! Oh, no, wait, do you think that _I'm_ stupid?!"

With a crack of her knuckles and a stone glare, Jade made the thin girl in front of her flinch instantly.

"I-I only said that so you could bug off!" Tori retorted with repetitious blinking before she scoffed for the millionth time, "I mean, I like, don't care if Andre, like starts to you know... and anyways, I do like Andre and that's as a friend."

Wow. Jade could have applauded. Tori was so unbelievable it was simply astounding. No wonder she doesn't like the damned girl. Really now? As a friend? Yeah right and Jade was a goddamned tree. Did Tori think she was really that stupid? Like she was going to believe that?

"Wow. You're an interesting liar," The Goth's gave the girl in front of her a smirk but her eyes looked serious, "You can't even say the word 'date'. That is so pathetic."

"Look," Tori sighed as she took one look at the guy she referred to as her closest and best friend, "I really don't like Andre like that."

It was funny how she was even having a hard time believing herself on that matter. Did she? Did she truly and really like him? Well of course she liked him. He was sweet, caring, supportive- all qualities she looked for in a guy. Plus he was an awesome singer- the first time she heard his voice, she almost went weak in the knees. Maybe... did she actually grow to love him? Did she love Andre? Tori nearly sighed of happiness as she continued to stare at Andre. But the spell was broken when she quickly shook her head in attempt to grasp reality and firmly nodded as if to make the taller girl on her side understand.

Jade however, did not look convinced. Instead, she looked as if she went through a long grueling argument that resulted with a satisfactory compromise.

She finally shrugged with a neutral look, "Okay, Vega. Suit yourself."

Tori sighed a breath of relief .

Thank God, Jade got off that uncomfortable topic. It was getting uncomfortable talking to her out of all people about it.

"I guess it's okay with you that Hilary keeps checking out his ass every second, right?" Jade interrupted the Latina's thoughts with a hint of a smile.

Tori's head instantly whipped straight back towards the scene behind her as if to get some confirmation for this disturbing yet oh- so- obvious lie. Only, it wasn't a lie. It so happened that Jade was right. There it was. The biggest slut in all of Hollywood Arts was indeed checking out her Andre's- no- Andre's ass. Okay, fine, maybe the girl wasn't a slut but still. No. She _was_ a slut for checking out his ass in the first place! It wasn't a quick stare and turn. No. It was a full on drool and_ stare_ fest.

She felt as if she couldn't breathe as if she was stuck in a room with no oxygen. She felt her egg croissant come right back up. Her heart seemed to have clenched in tune with her hands, that eventually cracked the binder within their grasp.

Why was Hilary Swiss of all the people in the world checking her Andre- no just plain- Andre out? God. Did he have something on his ass or something? Why was she looking at it for longer than a second?! She was making it so damn obvious, the whore.

Tori's gaze curiously followed the blond girl's gaze and also stared at her best friend's ass. Nope. Nothing but that lovely juicy naturalness...

Her mouth watered and she eventually caught herself before she got carried away with a shake of her head. God, what the hell was wrong with her? She was no better than that- that thing over there.

Why the heck was she checking out his ass? Why was Hilary checking his ass out? Why did she care so goddamned much?!

Tori groaned angrily as she turned away from the sight and stomped away. She couldn't take another second of this. Fuck Jade, she was going to class.

Jade seemed to feast delightfully at Tori's reaction with a gleeful look of happiness. Ah. She didn't really need to ruin Vega's day by making her walk with her to class. This would suffice for the rest of the week. Months even.

"Young love... such a beautiful yet dangerous thing..." she murmured to herself with a wide smirk before she full-on cackled.

God she loved messing with Vega's head. That just made her day.


	5. Chapter 5

_Yeah, well it's been a while, huh? College life is so overwhelming, I barely had the time to write. Thank God the bloody semester's over. Another chapter for you followers! Lots of Cabbie within. _

_Disclaimer: We already know. Not my property, yada- yada- yada. Moving on…_

Chapter 5

"I cannot wait for next semester," Robbie Shapiro said to his friend with a groan as the two had just finished arranging their things in their identical plain, gray gym lockers before closing it within seconds of one another. They both then headed for the locker room's exit, "I never thought that I would miss the intriguing yet painful sport of basketball so much."

"Yeah," Andre Harris agreed with a half smirk. He reached for the the exit's door handle and pulled it back effortlessly with one hand, "I definitely cannot deal with those constant wedgies."

"Tell me about it." Robbie agreed with another groan of his own, reminiscing of his own struggles with the rose pink leotard that currently hung in his locker.

"Well I can't wait either! I don't know why I have to watch you boobs gaily flip and flop around in pink tutus! It just isn't right!" the puppet in Rex's hands complained rudely as Andre held the door for Robbie.

"Well I don't know why I daily have to hear some dumbass commentary from a puppet with ridiculous high waters for pants!" Andre answered back smartly giving the puppet a look as Robbie past by him. He rolled his eyes as he released his hand from the door and the door closed behind them, "That's what's not right…"

"Exactly, Rex! Plus, it's not like we're the only ones in leotards," Robbie agreed, despite being the very source of annoyance, "You wear leotards for Ballet too."

"Well I do make them look_ good_..." Rex responded in his defense with his usual and ever so annoying, demure tone of voice.

Andre shook his head with another roll of his eyes before giving his taller friend a back- pat, "Alright, dude, I'm setting off. You're on your own. See you next period, man."

"And it's as if the little guy over here doesn't even exist." The puppet's voice boomed out, mimicking hurt.

"Bye Rex." Andre muttered with narrowed eyes. He wished that this was the last goodbye he would ever have to say to the damned puppet. But no, life never happens that way. He'd be saying hi and bye to that puppet for the rest of his life.

"Are you sure that you can't walk me just around the corner?" Robbie seemed to plead with the African- American boy, "I mean, for the love of Jehovah, it's just around the corner!"

"Oh come on, man!" Andre crossed his arms as a flash of annoyance spread through his eyes, "Look, I was only a bodyguard once in my life and that will be the one and only time ever."

"B- But, but-" Robbie stammered before giving his friend his legendary, pathetic puppy- dog eyes. His pink lips looked even more poutier than ever as he frowned sadly, "It's just the corner..."

Andre looked upwards with a sigh before he finally decided to address his friend.

"Robbie?" he finally managed to say, his gaze remaining upwards.

"Yes?" The milky- skinned teen looked entirely hopeful, "Yes, my wonderful, strong, marvelous friend?"

"Kiss-up." Rex interrupted with a cough.

Andre gave the two an unreadable look. He would just never get it. No matter how much anyone would explain the weird world of ventriloquism to him- he would just not get it, period.

"Okay... so, I'm just going to go ahead and say this because you're my friend," Andre started off awkwardly after cramming his hands in his jeans' pockets before he glanced at both Robbie and the dummy in his hands with an uncomfortable smile, "Grow a pair."

He hoped the blow wasn't too severe.

Robbie's look of hopefulness deflated instantaneously. What else was he expecting? He already asked too much of his friend.

"I'm guessing that means no..." he finally realized with an another one of his pouts as he tried to attempt a smile.

"Nope. It means never, ever again." Andre corrected simply before he sighed. He felt bad about leaving the ventriloquist alone, but uh, hello? He did have a life of his own. Plus, he missed hanging out with Tori before classes. Those were always the highlight of his day. Wait a hot minute, he didn't have to be attached to Tori by hip. But why did it bug him so much- not being around her? Because she was supposed to be his best friend. People were supposed to hang out with their best friends and be sad whenever they weren't around. That's a good and sensible explanation. No other obvious reason other than that.

Still, being with Robbie and that damned puppet of his for over an hour almost made him go mad. Andre needed a break from the two- well one.

He tried to assure his friend as he placed a palm on Robbie's shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze, "Look. I'm pretty sure that right this moment, Trina is busy doing something else that requires her, makeup, and a cracked mirror. She's not exactly keen on the very idea of you, so there's a really big chance she isn't even stalking you anymore. So yeah, once more, I'll see you later."

And with a peace sign and a smile, the musician walked on ahead and eventually got lost in the masses of students that had suddenly flooded the hallways. With a sigh of his own, Robbie slowly turned and headed off towards his next class in the opposite direction.

Ironically enough, the puppet in his hands began to move instinctively as he strolled through Hollywood Arts' hallways.

"He's right and you know it," it told him, "You definitely need to grow a pair. I've been saying it for years now."

Robbie didn't even need to tell himself that. He knew he needed to grow a pair. He was a punk. Ever since he had realized and come to face with his feelings towards Cat Valentine, he did absolutely nothing about it. Oh sure, he wrote and performed a few goofy and misleading songs and chased the girl all over the damned school. I guess you could say he sort of confessed- if saying countless words that the girl was clueless about meant a confession. It wasn't like he wanted to keep it a secret. He wanted to tell her. From the very moment when he realized that she made him feel more positive about himself and that he did care about her in return- those strong feelings made him want to tell her. But despite the desire to tell her about his feelings for her and wanting to scoop her up straight into his arms and just giving her- okay, that wasn't the point. It was just that he couldn't. It was just too hard. Even giving her a personally written note face to face was hard. Lately, all the letters he had sworn to hand to the girl in person eventually ended up getting stuffed in the side of her locker. Even that made him uneasy, despite not having his name on them. How did he know if she even read them or not? What if she rejected him? What if there was someone else? But the worse fear of them all- what if she didn't get it? Again? Or ever?

Robbie groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Whatever, Rex. You're right. You're always right. Just shut- up. Please."

He finally reached the intersected part of the hallway and paused at the corner before stuffing his puppet back into his backpack. He couldn't really deal with Rex right now- the puppet would just continuously remind him of how much of a loser he was and poke relentlessly at his conscience. Hell, Rex was his conscience.

Robbie then placed the book-bag back onto his back and quickly turned the corner without a thought. In result, he instantly bumped into a small moving figure that was coming from the opposite way. Looking down to offer his jumbled mix of apologies, he recognized the unnatural red hair at once and his breath immediately got caught in his throat.

It was Cat.

Behind her, was a large wagon that Robbie presumed to be the Valentines that everyone gave the redhead petite goddess. Seeing this made his heart sink just as Cat had turned back to make sure that all her goods were intact in her cart.

"Whoa..." Robbie finally managed to squeak out, in half attempt to attract Cat's attention. The squeak sounded so awkward that Robbie swore Alvin the Chipmunk himself would make fun of it. God, was he an idiot or what?

Cat didn't seem to notice its awkwardness as her eyes rose from her gifts and roamed over to the person in front of her. She instantly recognized the tall, curly- haired boy in front of her.

Robbie!

She gave him one of her adorable smiles as her eyes lit up in happiness.

"Robbie!" she squealed happily with a bounce in her step as she leaned forward, "Hi, Robbie! Hi!"

Almost instinctively as if it were normal routine for her, she wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a tight hug. Oh silly, billy. It was routine for her.

Andre's hugs were indefinitely the best, but Robbie's hugs had something that lacked in Andre's. She couldn't explain it, but if anyone asked who's hugs she liked best, it would secretly have to be Robbie's. It was like she fit perfectly in his arms... almost like those puzzles that agitated both her and her brother but her parents had no problem completing.

Robbie reached down to meet the sudden hug as his arms wrapped around her mid- back almost hesitantly. Once she was enveloped in him, he took a deep breath and buried his head in the crook of her neck, inhaling all of her in with a gradual close of his eyes. Catching the scent of her peaches and cream shampoo, he nearly sighed in contentment. Oh Lord, he could die now a happy man. Trina could even come along and stab him in the head with a stiletto and he still would stand there grinning like a maniac. Cat was the sun in the midst of his dark clouds of problems and no stiletto would end that.

And in a matter of a second, the best thing that could possibly ever happen suddenly diminished.

He managed to plaster a smile across his face, despite missing her embrace.

"Hey, Cat." he finally greeted back. A hint of sadness passed through his eyes when he noticed that unavoidable wagon again, "So what are you up to?"

Not noticing the faint look of distraught on Robbie's face despite his ghost of a smile, she enthusiastically pointed behind her.

"I just got these gifts! Wanna see?!" she asked with a wide girlish smile and eyes full of hope.

Robbie tried to keep his face from falling.

Gifts. Those damned bloody gifts. She really wanted him to see the gifts that other horny, perverted guys got her. Hell, perverted girls too. Thank you, Tori for instilling that horror as well.

He swallowed back a gulp, getting nervous before he shot her an uncomfortable smile.

Robbie couldn't believe it. These were all gifts? From like people? From like dudes to her?

But like the dumbass he was, he readily said the wrong words before he could take them back.

"Sure Cat, let's see what you got."

Cat giggled, happy that one of her best friends had finally shown an interest in her gifts. At least someone wanted to share her interest instead of being mean about it like Jadey or busy like the others.

"Let's see..." she murmured to herself with a smile as she turned back to the wagon and reached into it, "Ooh! I got this..." she sing-songed just as she pulled out a horn that looked as if were purposefully pulled off a clown's bike.

Robbie peered at it, before his eyebrow arched. Wait a second... was that his?

"Honk- Honk!" she mimicked with occasional squeezes of the horn that she placed in front of her nose. Her grin remained unwiped.

Robbie's eyes dilated a bit as he nodded at her action with an absent- minded smile.

What was wrong with these bastards?! A horn? Cat should be showered with jewels! Not horns and other stupid contraptions!

In the midst of his thoughts, Robbie found the horn a mere few inches away from his reach. When he looked to meet Cat's gaze, he was met with her expectant smile with her arm outstretched with the horn in her palm.

Oh... anything to make her happy.

Taking it, Robbie eyed it with a nod as if it were the most interesting and the most coolest thing ever. Even though with each cautious squeeze, he felt like smashing the thing into smithereens.

The things he does for love...

She didn't realize his fake guise of interest as she turned to find something else in that Mary- Poppins like wagon of hers.

"And look at what Sinjin and Burf got me!"

When Robbie looked back up from the horn he was holding, he was met with the sight of Cat wearing a ridiculous multi-colored beanie with a propeller of it's own.

His jaw nearly dropped. That was a bloody stage prop! He remembered the recent musical that Sikowitz had them put on and that ridiculous thing was part of it. Damn those guys to the pit of hell! Did they not see how wonderful this girl was?!

With a different thought in mind about the gift, Cat spun the propellers with the tip of her fingers and with a serious yet playful expression, begun to make sputtering noises. She circled around the taller boy.

"I'm a helicopter!" she giggled and mimicked some more helicopter noises before she pointed at him, "Uh-oh! About to crash into a skyscraper!"

She circled him once more before dropping into his arms again for another hug.

Robbie let out a small yet satisfied smile as his blushing increased. Oh, he truly did love those guys, Burf and Sinjin. He ought to treat them to dinner at Nozu soon.

Before Robbie could bask in the ethereal moment, Cat quickly got out of his grasp as she turned to place the little beanie into the wagon behind her. He held back a sigh as he handed the horn back to her.

Placing a hand behind the back of his head, he changed the subject almost awkwardly, "So, uh, where'd you get the wagon?"

Like he really cared. Inside, he was fuming like crazy.

"I brought to to school, silly." Cat giggled as she placed the horn back in the wagon as well, "Lane said I could keep in his office- ooh! That reminds me! He gave me lotion that smells like strawberry shortcake!"

Did Lane not know that his ever- so- obvious intentions was against the law?!

"Why?" he blurted with a flash of hurt.

He couldn't help himself but ask. Did she know she would be receiving this much? Was she anticipating for this to happen so badly?!

"Why?" Cat looked confused and had a hurt expression of her own. Her voice raised with each syllable, "Is he not supposed to? W-What's that supposed to mean?!"

Oh God, no, now she was going to cry. Way to go, Shapiro. Excellent. Instead of confessing to the girl of your dreams, you can make her cry infinite amounts of time. Glad that was figured out. A definite no-brainer.

Robbie cringed as he reached out in attempt to comfort her.

"No, no, I meant the wagon!" Robbie quickly explained, "Why bring the wagon?"

Just when he was about to give the redhead in front of him a rub of the shoulders, her demeanor totally reversed. A sudden happy jump from her was enough for him to withdraw his hands back to his sides.

"It's my day, Robbie!" she happily told him before she pouted and reworded herself with a thoughtful glance upwards, "Well, my almost day…. so I collect gifts with it!"

"But your day's tomorrow." Robbie muttered, looking down his Converses with an eyeroll, "Why bring it today?"

Huh? Was Robbie mad at her?

"What's that supposed to mean?" she whimpered, glancing back up at him with her big, round eyes that looked glassy.

Second time's a charm, Shapiro. He groaned internally. What the heck was up with him? Still unable to meet her gaze, he shoved his hands in his skinny jeans' pockets.

"N-nothing, Cat." he murmured almost lifeless, "Happy for you, I guess. So… I heard Beck got you something…"

Remembering the stuffed confectionary that Beck got her earlier caused a smile to spread across the redhead's doll-like features. It had to be the best gift Cat had gotten so far… with the exception of those sheets of paper someone left in her locker. No one has ever called her pretty 20 times on paper before. Now that was by far the best gift she's been given. It was unfortunate that she had no clue who exactly it was from. Cat still couldn't quite put her finger to the person that had her locker combination number. She must've gave it to someone. Otherwise, how else did they get to her locker? Maybe it was Jadey...!

"Oh yeah!" she happily raised the cupcake up for the bespectacled boy to see, "See? Isn't it cute?"

If anything, she was the one who was cute. Robbie held back yet another sigh. There goes Beck Oliver. Super considerate for no damned reason.

Robbie swallowed back one of his snarky comments and gave Cat a toothless smile he managed to painfully muster up.

"Uh, yeah, great. You know what, Cat?" Robbie ruffled his curls and stared off to the side, "I gotta go. I'm going to be late for Tech."

Yeah,he had better. Before he started to sob, kick and scream pointlessly in front of the girl- who seemed clueless to the fact that she was stabbing an invisible knife repeatedly through his heart, he ought to just spare her the bloody misery and just leave. Hell, he couldn't even compete with Beck. He couldn't even give her a damned gift unlike Mr. Perfection himself.

He tried to go around her but was unsuccessful when she stopped him with outstretched arms, completely blocking his way.

"But wait! You didn't see what Trina got me!"

Oh God. He had totally forgotten about Tarzan. Goddammit. Here's praying that Andre was right and that she totally forgot about him. Hell, why was she even chasing him? She should be honored that someone actually seemed to like her. Those types of occasions were a rarity for her.

Cat pulled out a pair of beige snakeskin heels that were of course, ridiculously sky- high stilettos. They looked eerily similar to the shoes Trina wore this morning- he wouldn't forget outrageous shoes once he saw them. Wait, oh my God- it can't be.

Robbie flinched before he started to ask, almost hesitantly, "Cat… why do you have those?"

"Trina gave them to me, silly billy." she beamed, "I just told you that, Robbie."  
Robbie's face froze as she glanced upwards with a pointed finger under her chin, thoughtfully, "Though for some reason, she wanted my giraffe gym sneakers-" she paused with a laugh, "You know, the ones with the giraffe heads on the toes. They look so funny." She paused again, letting out another giggle, "Like with the fuzzy neck and all…" Cat then abruptly stopped laughing as if she hadn't been laughing originally, "I felt bad for her since she looked angry, so I gave them to her."

"Oh…" Robbie squeaked. Oh, was he absolutely screwed.

Cat looked from left to right, making sure no one was listening in as she leaned in towards Robbie with a hushed whisper, " I have a feeling that she doesn't have a Valentine…" She placed a pointer finger in front of her lips, "Shh… it's a secret, 'kay?"

Robbie nearly fainted, one cause her wonderful candy breath was still tickling across his nose and two, a psycho was still after him.

"My lips are sealed." Robbie promised before he asked hesitantly, "Speaking of Valentine's… uh, besides the whole 'being your day' thing, is there anyone? Like do you have one?

"Have what?" Cat looked lost.

Robbie nearly exploded internally.

"A- a Valentine?" he stammered awkwardly as if it weren't a question at all.

The redhead looked off to the side with an arched eyebrow and a pout as if she was sincerely trying to figure out at least one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

She suddenly grinned to herself before she looked back up at Robbie with a shake of her head, making her red hair bounce from side to side.

Oh Gosh. Thank the Maker. He could see clearly now, the rain is gone.

"Oh," he sighed with a smile, "I see…"

As Robbie managed to gradually relax from the sound of this news, it was the opposite for Cat. She started to frown to herself as if she realized what this actually meant. Noticing her frown, Robbie instantly got concerned.

"What's the matter, Cat?"

She looked up at him, with those adorable and endearing brown eyes and unfortunately a pout before she looked down.

"I don't have a Valentine." she said sadly before she looked back up as if she was seeking an answer, "Why? Why don't I, Robbie?"

Robbie, for the first time in his humane life, was speechless. He wouldn't know what to say with even Rex in his hands. What the heck was he supposed to say?

"Well, I, uh, Cat, um-" he mumbled out some incoherent syllables, none of which Cat seemed to even notice as she looks down at the marble floors.

"I'm just like Trina…" she said quietly, "No one likes me…"

"That's not true!" The boy, who stood at least a foot taller than her, thundered out.

She looked up again and met his intense gaze with one of her own as if she had just realized he had been standing in front of her all along.

"Then why don't I have a Valentine, Robbie?! Huh?! Why don't I?!"

Robbie, noting that she was getting into one of her 'Angry Cat' modes, tried to back away from the yelling redhead. He winced when she managed to get a strong grip of his shirt's elbow sleeves and started swinging him back and forth.

"WHY?!"

He quickly shook his head and got his arms out of her grasp, clasping his hands onto her shoulders in attempt to calm her down.

"Cat, listen," He leaned forward, as if to reach her height and leveled his stare with hers, "Everyone likes you. I mean, Tori likes you, Andre likes you, Beck likes you. Heck, I don't even know how or why but even Jade in her own weird way likes you! And I like you. I like you. Alot." he paused with a grimace as if his next words that came out were poison, "Actually, I, um… I got you something…"

The only response he got from Cat was multiple eye blinks. Good grief, what the hell was he doing? Why, oh, why did he even say anything?! Oh well, he was in the quicksand now. Might as well go for the kill.

He pulled out the small letter that sat in his pocket for a few weeks now. Not like the other stupid letters of love that he left nameless in both her and Trina's lockers. This one was direct. With his name. There was no running away or escaping with this letter. It would simply seal his fate once and for all.

He gulped, but hell, he couldn't even feel the bloody gulp. God, he was so nervous. He couldn't even feel the small, white envelope in his hands.

It was now or never.

Robbie started to hand her the letter and he hand reached out to accept it…

This was really happening. It was…

"Cat. Long time no see." A voice erupted and in a flash of a moment, a broader and taller silhouette stood between him and the girl of his dreams.

The envelope was no longer in Robbie's hands. The body in front of him had bumped into his outstretched hand, making the envelope fall to the ground.

Robbie's eyes remained unmoved from the card on the floor trampled underfoot by boisterous teens passing from both directions. There it was, his chance. Ultimately destroyed by...

"Danny?"


End file.
